Creativity: The importance of a personal manifesto
Oxford defines a manifesto as “a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate.” You can quickly think of the most famous one: The Communist Manifesto. And you wouldn't be wrong, but there are dozens of types of Manifestos out there, and in the history of social movements and political ideologies, various manifestos have played a significant influence, for example, Manifeste du surréalisme and Manifesto of Futurism, including the USA Declaration of Independence.
I personally think its interesting the way André Munro, P.h.D. of Political Science describes a Manifesto:
“ They criticize a present state of affairs but also announce its passing, proclaiming the advent of a new movement or even of a new era. In this sense, manifestos combine a sometimes violent societal critique with an inaugural and inspirational declaration of change. Although manifestos can claim to speak for the majority, they are often authored by a nonconformist minority and are linked to the idea of an avant-garde that signals or even leads the way to the future.”
At a certain point, companies and artists started using a manifesto as a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views. Brand and marketing manifestos started to appear and companies use them to better communicate with their audience it is usually something short, loaded with emotion and impact.
I learned to use the manifesto as a set of patterns to use as a guide, and practical signs to turn to when there's a lot going on, it helps me in my creative process. You don’t necessarily have to call it a manifesto, you can call it a set of values, a list of intentions, a summary of what you believe in, or something like that, though it's quite important to have your ideals clearly ready for reference in case you need to remember them.
Be honest with your own arguments without false morality, and it’s ok to spend a lot of time trying to identify your own concern, our learnings are constants and success is not linear. The tool of having your own set of values can help you navigate the world, as a compass of principles.
Cândido Portinari was a Brazilian painter and one of the main names of Modernism, son of Italian immigrants born in the interior of São Paulo in 1903, at the age of 18 and enroll in the national school of fine arts in Rio de Janeiro.
He won numerous awards, traveled abroad visiting Italy, England, and Spain, and settled in Paris on Rue du Dragon for two years. He was the only Brazilian artist to participate in the exhibition of 50 Years of Modern Art, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, in Brussels. Also, he won the Légion d’Honneur from the French government, which is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Among many other achievements, with a truly inspiring trajectory.
I believe that while Portinari lived in France and produced two still-life paintings, was a time of reflection, inspiration, observation, and learning. As soon as he returned to Brazil, he produced forty canvases, and from then on he focused on social issues and the quest to express the Brazilian motherland.
The canvas O Café (1934) defines this new phase. It seems that from the moment he identified what was important to him, it all made sense when he adjusted and discover his own manifesto, motivated by the nostalgia he felt for his origin and the humanitarian cause.
He wrote to his friend:
“I started to work, but in my room, because I still couldn’t find a studio within my means. However, I’m not sad, because I’m not wasting time: in the morning I go to the Louvre, in the afternoon I study. I don’t intend to paint for now. I learn more by looking at a Ticiano, a Raphael, than at the entire Salon d’Automne.”
Portinari overcame his academic background and combined classical painting knowledge with a modern experimentalist and anti-academic mentality.
No matter what your field of activity, creativity is like mining, where you always have to go deeper to discover yourself. You don’t have to do the same things in the same way for too long, but force them in ways we’ve never been, using your personal manifesto as a tool. Many people fail to reach their potential because they don’t want to push themselves to the extreme, be excessive and see what can happen.
"If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?" — T. S. Eliot
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