From **Deep Worth: Notes on Creativity, Labor, and Value**
by Danica Swanson - 27 Dec 2024
✅ Deep Worth is:
- ordinary slice-of-life narratives: journal writings and reflections about how we value and devalue creative labor, time, and attention
- a space to host accessible critical thinking about dominant cultural norms (e.g., “starving artist” tropes, day jobs + side hustles, etc.)
- an effort to unpack cultural and social hurdles to getting artists paid, such as the notion that art isn’t “real” work
- an examination of the structural reasons why so many artists, writers, editors, academics, etc., struggle financially even as they may appear "successful" to the public
- advocacy for long-term culture change (including more space for gift culture) by thinking-in-systems and slowly shifting deep structures that shape behavior
- an ongoing quest to unearth “invisibilized” patterns and roadblocks to getting writers and artists paid, and to express them in plain language
- an open-ended inquiry into the nature of the contradictions and paradoxes inherent in art labor
- a low-key space to develop “slowcore” approaches to valuing time and attention
- a place to publicly accumulate casual snippets, quotes, etc. with minimal platform risk and no worries about trying to build an audience
- an effort to encourage more open discussion of extractive vs. restorative norms in creative labor markets, and help allies connect with one another
- a space to center those who practice art forms, and to clarify the difference between art labor and “content creation”
(I like Thomas J. Bevan's take: "Content is a transaction presented as utilitarian exchange, art is an emanation of the spirit presented as a gift.")
🚫 Deep Worth is not:
- tirades against political systems — capitalism, socialism, communism, etc.
- name-and-shame criticisms of specific individuals or groups
- critical theory, analysis, or obfuscation via academic jargon
- “solutions” such as individual how-tos, hacks, tips and tricks
Notes on the distinction between value and worth: