Fraser

There has never been a better time to invest in independent, experimental, creative, socially-oriented work. If you have a project you have always wanted to get done — now is the time.

The interconnectedness of people and global economies, our broken relationship with the natural world, racial injustice, health inequality — the list of realisations is endless. This is a time of radical awakenings for many, what professor Otto Scharmer describes as “A New Superpower in the Making: Awareness-Based Collective Action”. Maybe this will emerge as a pivotal moment of change, or maybe this is a mere preamble to more future pandemics and climate-related issues.

This pandemic is a time of deep disruption and we all feel the shifting landscape. This is a time of adaptation, and I think that applies to creative industries, where it can produce interesting results for artists and audiences alike as we look to the future.

Tough times call for creativity. You don’t have to take my word for it. There are numerous examples of rapid and ingenious adaptation that emerged from previous pandemics, such as the 1918 Spanish Flu (H1N1 virus), as well as contemporary op-eds such as “Never Waste A Crisis” or scientific papers exploring “Meaning-Making Through Creativity During COVID-19”.

One thing I think is important during this time is to keep the sense of urgency front and centre. Don’t wait until tomorrow to work on passion projects, especially ones that explore personal, social or climate issues. Now is the time for an explosion of creative voices from all sides of the world.

At Far Features, our independent work focuses on documenting environmental and human health issues.

Shortly after the pandemic began, our “paid” work all but stopped. Previously, we spent most of our time travelling, producing and shooting.

While we are just one of many small creative companies working internationally that saw projects halted, postponed or cancelled over the past year — doing nothing was not an option.

Each member of our small team felt a powerful need to respond to the pandemic, and so transformative times became a springboard for new projects. We kept busy with new “remote” multimedia projects thanks to the innovative response of the creative industries internationally, which have evolved into a new normal with new methods of working. We embraced collaboration over competition and tied it to the trend of producing remote, virtual, mixed-media documentaries.

Our photographer Eszter Papp created Our Social Distance, a webcam portrait series of everyday life during lockdown.

Our editor Sadiq Mansor deep-dove into self-learning animation, developing a unique style that has become a meditative representation of the times.

Our designer Ali Kelly and I have been working closely to create Project Reset, a user-generated time capsule documentary project that is still ongoing in 2021. When the pandemic began, I journalled each day, writing down thoughts about the confusing new times we found ourselves in. Soon, I had a collection of dated letters, and I wrote one to the future. At the time, my reading list was also filled with books about the future, space travel and the human genome project, such as Superbugs, How Innovation Works, or The Uninhabitable Earth or Spillover, Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic — so this was the mindset I was in at the time.

This idea is for users to “Write The Future”. Anyone can visit the time capsule project and write short, 1,000-character letters that document pandemic experiences or set intentions for the future.

The worst piece of career advice I ever received: “You have too many interests. You should settle on one thing and do that.”

How about, “No”.

For me, that’s an archaic way of thinking, and not at all suited to who I am or the team we have built. We prefer to work across mediums in a small team of self-learners, constantly picking up new skills so that we can adapt and meet the demands of an ever-changing industry, as well as the storytelling needs of different audiences. In today’s digitally disrupted age, exposure to multiple disciplines and varied skills are both essential.

I find work interesting when it pushes boundaries. Nothing stays the same, nor should it. That goes for journalism, design, documentary filmmaking, magazines, print editorial — most of the areas I’ve worked in have rapidly changed in the 15 years since I left university. It’s fascinating and compelling to mix parts of everything, and you learn a lot when you work with positive people who like doing the same.

Pushing creative boundaries in your work comes with confronting your own relationship with rejection and how you perceive “industry standards”. Breaking the norm sometimes means forgetting the “right way”, and not taking “no” for an answer. For instance, applying for creative funds takes a sense of humour. Most, if not all, will simply never happen. From experience, my independent projects would never exist if I relied on validation from external sources to begin the work.

You have to create because the work wants to come into existence, you find a way no matter what. I think it applies to all “passion projects”, no matter the size, scale or budget.

In spite of the challenging times independent creatives face economically, expression through new original work is essential in these times — no matter how small, and without fear of rejection or not finding a final destination.

There is always a way to put out original and helpful work, no matter how small. A pen and notepad don’t cost much, and art is always necessary.

Fraser Morton is the director of Far Featured Ltd, an independent British multimedia production company working between Europe & Asia. He is a writer, ghostwriter, and mix-media documentary filmmaker. You can find him on Instagram at @far_features, as well as on Medium. If you’d like to support the Project Reset, reach out here.

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