Interview

Loneliness in the Arts: A Guide for Artists. Leaders, curators, and artists share their strategies for living and creating.

Being a profound and recurring theme in the arts, explored across various mediums, artists have long used loneliness to express the human condition, reflecting both personal experiences and broader societal issues. 

Loneliness is “the distressing feeling of being alone or separated”, as defined by the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA), highlighting that it is a subjective experience; individuals may feel socially isolated even if they are not physically alone. Edward Hopper’s moody paintings poignantly capture themes of isolation and solitude through stark, empty spaces and solitary figures. Cindy Sherman explores loneliness and alienation through her conceptual portraits, where she adopts various personas. In contrast, Shirin Neshat’s Women of Allah series delves into themes of alienation, isolation, and the complex emotional landscape of women amidst political and cultural pressures.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the social isolation caused by lockdowns and distancing measures exacerbated feelings of loneliness, leading to severe mental and physical health consequences. The experience of loneliness can be influenced by many factors and varies across professions. For artists and cultural workers, some contributing factors may include the solitary nature of creation, an unpredictable career path, non-traditional working hours, and many cultural or social factors. 

To gain insight into these experiences, we spoke with six artists and individuals working in the art and culture industry: Marta Jarnuszkiewicz, Sanaz Amidi, Josh Savage, Victoria Sarangova, Alicja Rogalska, and Jotham Sietsma. They shared their personal experiences with loneliness and offered some tips on how to manage it.

What role does loneliness play in your daily work as an artist/educator?

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

As a teacher working in many schools and places at the same time, I was saturated with people who treated me as a source of inspiration, knowledge, and answers to their questions. And this is what made me feel more lonely due to the lack of regulation. That is why I believe that proportions are key in this profession. Their absence can lead to burnout, a sense of loneliness standing in the paradox of constant human interaction. For me, exchange is a keyword that is missing in the field of both education and art. It is a world full of artificial relationships, apparent ease, and openness, where it is difficult to have a qualitative flow of kindness and a fruitful connection.

Sanaz Amidi

As a consultant and executive coach, I often get asked about the challenges of being a leader. Being in the spotlight every day, managing employees and a board and bearing the responsibility of delivering results for an organisation can be a lot to handle for one person. It can understandably lead to some leaders isolating themselves within their organisation, feeling that they have no one to confide in about work. In a recent study by Deloitte, almost a third of executives reported they always or often feel lonely. While this may be perceived as something you just have to accept as you rise to the top, the long-term effects on you as an individual should not be ignored. In my work as an Executive Coach, I provide a safe space for leaders to reflect on their decisions, behaviours, and communication styles without fear of judgment. Professional support can provide valuable insights into what is causing your sense of isolation and provide coping strategies to help leaders gain clarity and make more informed decisions.

Josh Savage

It’s a funny one. Being an artist is often a lonely road, however, music is what also brings people together. You are exposed to many people, but few, if any, get to know the real you.

Victoria Sarangova

It is a very important state that sometimes allows you to tap into the deeper intentions and reflections. 

Alicja Rogalska

Loneliness is not really the topic of my work per se, but I am interested in socially engineered loneliness – isolation and the negative emotions associated with it – as a late neoliberal capitalist condition and a result of alienation. I often work with various people who are in precarious situations because of their legal status or being workers without a social security net within a system that endorses competition. I try to reflect on our common condition and consider how we could collectively change the rules of the game and enable different kinds of social ties to emerge. To realise that you are not alone and that you don’t have to be lonely when facing different challenges can be life-changing and is often a first step to political engagement.

Jotham Sietsma

If I’m to consider myself an artist, I guess my art is that of collaboration – bringing people together to learn from each other, work together, or sometimes simply be in solidarity. In our field, many people feel alone, struggling by themselves, fighting for their art practice and their communities. The programming that I’ve been privileged to be part of, like Tandem for Culture, most of all helped artists and cultural professionals to recognise that there are other people like them, “Oh, you have that too?”. We’re not alone, there are many of us out there fighting the same fight. It’s like that picture of small fish finding each other and turning around to face the big challenges of life together.

To realise that you are not alone and that you don’t have to be lonely when facing different challenges can be life-changing and is often a first step to political engagement.
— Alicja Rogalska

Was/is the feeling of loneliness linked to a particular stage in your artistic career?

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

I felt the most lonely in my pre-burning-out stage when I didn’t yet know that my individual feelings and frustration were a common topic for people from the educational art field. That was a very solitary state of mind I had no one to share with at the time. Coming out with this frustration and speaking out about the flaws of (Polish) art education was very liberating for me. This is an important part of the ART ASK project, which I am currently implementing in the digital space as a podcast and Instagram account – providing a space for creative and honest debates about the problems, values ​​and challenges present in art education not only in Poland but all over the world.

Sanaz Amidi

During my time as the CEO of a non-profit arts organisation, I experienced feelings of loneliness. Your staff and board have expectations of you, and you are often sandwiched between these two as a leader. I would often seek professional development programmes to connect with others to share my challenges and gain a fresh perspective on how to deal with them. I developed a number of my own support networks to help me through difficult times which was invaluable.

Josh Savage 

It’s a feeling that comes time and time again. I felt lonely at the beginning of my career when I couch-surfed on my own for three years to pursue my dream in music. Even after success, for example, after I opened Robbie Williams to 100,000 people, I probably went through the worst ever depression in my life after that due to the come down from such a massive high. I felt extremely lonely. I did not feel like I could share that special experience because I thought nobody would understand.

Victoria Sarangova

Yes, together with depression, grief, and emigration, but also new horizons – all at the beginning of my artistic pathway. In 2010, I lost my parents and moved to a different country to study. 

Alicja Rogalska

I guess becoming a parent and especially a mother isolates an artist in a very acute way and loneliness can be part of that experience. As a mother of two very young kids, I have certainly experienced a feeling of isolation – not being able to attend openings and other social gatherings, being excluded from most residencies and not being able to work on some projects because of people’s assumptions (“you won’t have the time anyway!”), and the lack of support structures for parents in the art world. For instance, I was invited to attend an opening of an important biennial where my work was shown but the organisers apparently didn’t have enough money in the budget to invite me together with my then-breastfed baby. However, they could afford to fly in a New York-based art critic and pay for dinners and parties for everyone. On the other hand, I’ve been extremely lucky to work with many organisations whose leftist and feminist values are not just performative and who were very supportive and to have a very engaged co-parent. Still, the social, financial and mental toll of being an artist and a mother, including isolation and loneliness, is enormous. It’s a conversation that needs to happen more.

Jotham Sietsma

I felt most lonely when I was the director of the organisation that implemented Tandem, a cross-border collaboration programme for cultural practitioners and their organisations. There is the weight of the responsibility, and most of all, the sense of being wedged between a rock and a hard place – there is always a lack of funding, an increasingly conservative sector, a board that is not helpful and a team that is overloaded. And then there is you, feeling that your decisions need to matter and you don’t want to let anyone down. Because you know – failing a grant application can mean you have to let go of colleagues and that’s on you.

If our societies and our education systems would place a more normative and collective value on experiencing arts and sharing cultural expression, I think we’d see a lot fewer depressed people and a less polarised society.
— Jotham Sietsma

What forms of living and working can cause loneliness in an artistic career?

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

In my case, the institutions I worked with contributed a lot to my feeling of loneliness. Unclear politics in the cultural sector make us more competitive. A culture built on a vertical, hierarchical structure, rankings, awards, and rivalry for positions make the field of art less about networking and more about competition. I dream of a democratic and contemporary institution based on horizontal relations, developing and supporting a sense of belonging and affiliation – treating healthy, interpersonal relationships as a resource. Meanwhile, instead, I am observing the degradation of the profession of an artist-educator, one who works for outrageously low wages, fights for survival, and has no other alternative than to cooperate with this dysfunctional model.

Sanaz Amidi

Working from home can create and exacerbate feelings of isolation. The lack of social interactions can have a large impact on your well-being and ultimately affect your creativity, if not addressed. The rise in remote working has been beneficial for some people but it must be balanced with in-person connections too.

Josh Savage

Being a solo artist certainly does not help, but I love the flexibility it gives and I value the amazing people that I get to meet along the way. Collaboration with others is the most important to me.

Victoria Sarangova

Anything can cause it. In my opinion, it is individual and depends on many factors – biographical, socio-economic, etc

Alicja Rogalska

Everyone is so different that I can only speak from my own experience. When I was still an art student the idea of spending the majority of my time alone in the studio appealed to me a lot, maybe because it was a luxury that I couldn’t afford. It soon transpired that I wasn’t cut out for that type of work anyway. Maybe it’s because I was socialised in a huge extended family, growing up on a farm in the countryside where working together with others was necessary for survival. I don’t think I ever felt more lonely than when I was stuck in my white cube studio at Goldsmiths trying to make work that would then be shown in another white cube space. This is not to say studio practice is not a valid and important mode of working. Now I would actually love to have both a studio and time to spend there but there are alternatives. I opted for the kind of practice that directly engages with the messiness of social relations and entanglements and takes me into new contexts.

Jotham Sietsma

I think it has a lot to do with the neoliberal focus on valuing arts for the money it can generate or the measurable social impact it can have. Everyone is being pushed to excel, compete, and jump through hoops, and that causes alienation. From your work, from other people, from living. If our societies and our education systems would place a more normative and collective value on experiencing arts and sharing cultural expression, I think we’d see a lot fewer depressed people and a less polarised society. 

Do you think people in the arts and cultural sector experience loneliness more often than people in other professions?

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

I don’t think so. We all in this untransparent world have been struggling with loneliness. If we assume that people working in culture or art are more sensitive than in other sectors, we will of course come to the obvious conclusion – artists may feel the world more, experience it more, and at the same time think differently, so they tend to be isolated. However, I think this is too simple a picture.

Sanaz Amidi

Working as a solo artist can be isolating; whether you are a writer, sculptor or painter, your work can only be done in solitude and therefore feelings of loneliness are very common. It can be hard to find a community that you connect with but it is worth the effort to find individuals who create a safe space for you to share your work and problems with.

Josh Savage 

To become a successful (music) artist, you need to become a leader. Do things that have never been done before. To do that, you need to be able to grow and leave your comfort zone. Not everybody will understand it at first and that will face criticism. People will call you crazy until it starts working out. That is when it gets incredibly lonely at times.

Victoria Sarangova

It is difficult for me to differentiate in this case between isolation (more of a negative connotation) and loneliness (can be pretty positive and insightful for me). I feel isolated when diving too much into a self-centred state or being overwhelmed by the pressures of the competition within the art scene as opposed to the community rootedness and support.

Alicja Rogalska

For me, the experience has been quite the opposite. I find the arts and the cultural sector super-social, which sadly also includes a lot of pathological behaviours and relationships. Perhaps the pressure to constantly perform oneself and compete with others can induce the feeling of not being able to be authentic, which can, in turn, lead to perceived loneliness. I think realising this is a common experience and seeing other people in the field, and especially other artists, not as competitors but allies can be transformative, especially when it leads to action and gestures of solidarity.

Jotham Sietsma

Artists are the kind of humans that need art to express themselves in ways that they cannot do otherwise. I think many artists and cultural professionals feel different, often misunderstood, and maybe even outcasts. For some, loneliness can be a fuel or a catalyst. For others, it can drive them to the brink of tolerance, not belonging, depression. Again, if our systems would encourage more the value to meaningfully engage with each other – who knows what our world could look like?

There is nothing like finding a person you can look in the eye and see that they lived through something similar – it creates a bond, almost like kinship.
—Jotham Sietsma

What strategies for dealing with loneliness can you share from your own experience? What has helped you personally? Perhaps you can name a tool or method that helped you?

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

Conversations! I recently discovered the power of conversations about issues related to art education. They help me understand my own experiences which seem to be a generational experience of artists, educators, and lecturers in the field of art. I think we should start creating networks of associations, trade unions, and also support and publicise the difficulties related to this profession. I founded the ART ASK project to meet and talk with people with similar problems and priorities in art education. I work at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and the Warsaw Film School. In both of these environments, art is rarely discussed in the context of education and its future. Paradoxical, isn’t it?

Sanaz Amidi

In today’s rapidly changing world, adaptability and resilience are crucial artistic qualities. Those who prioritise their wellbeing alongside professional growth will be better equipped to face future challenges. For me, spending quality time with family and friends helps to reduce feelings of isolation. I try to keep things simple, avoiding over-planning, and instead, I prioritise regular, informal meetups. I also make time for exercise and practice mindfulness in everyday activities, like leaving my phone at home when I walk my dog. This allows me to be fully present without distractions. Pets can play an incredibly important role in your wellbeing.

Josh Savage

I seek activities that get me outside my music bubble. I work out with team sports or group classes and do admin days in friendly internet cafes. I also give back to my local community by organising secret concerts with Sofar Sounds and running a podcast GM Good Music where I share what I’ve learned in the web3 space (Music NFT).

Victoria Sarangova

I strive to embrace the balance between loneliness as a great source for insights and the periods of interaction, opening up and sharing vulnerability among peers. I know of no tool or method as it is an individual path. Helpful for me was therapy to face my fears and other difficult feelings. I can also recommend reading fiction by great writers.

Alicja Rogalska

As a socially engaged artist and someone who often collaborates with others, I haven’t really experienced much loneliness at work. Quite the opposite, I have to make sure I periodically withdraw and have some alone time after intense periods of working with others to avoid burnout. One can say the strategy for dealing with loneliness or social isolation is embedded in my practice. When it comes to personal life, I try to make sure I always have time to see or talk to my friends, no matter how busy I think I am. I also find it extremely important to know and keep in touch with people from different walks of life.

Jotham Sietsma

The first step that helped me was to find those people who are or were in a similar position and have had similar experiences. There is nothing like finding a person you can look in the eye and see that they lived through something similar – it creates a bond, almost like kinship. It makes talking about your challenges and the emotions coming with it a little bit easier. Of course, this requires a good dose of courage and vulnerability. With me, it took a while, first of all, due to the fear of rejection but also the idea that I could solve things myself. In the end, it was mostly serendipity that I did find the courage to reach out – a coincidental situation, became an opportunity, a small leap of faith to make that connection to another human being. 

Still, the social, financial and mental toll of being an artist and a mother, including isolation and loneliness, is enormous. It’s a conversation that needs to happen more.
— Alicja Rogalska

Do you have three concrete pieces of advice for artists who are just starting their careers so that they don’t get too lonely?

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

Hard to give advice so please take them with a pinch of salt.

  1. Find a social mission using art. Then you’re not so focused on yourself.
  2. Make a network, necessarily connect with people from different fields.
  3. Find a good therapist.

Sanaz Amidi

  1. Connect to the world at regular intervals throughout the day, in person or digitally.
  2. Maintain a healthy work-life balance – ensure you are getting enough sleep, exercise, and social time throughout the week. Give yourself permission to plan nothing and see what shows up for you at that moment.
  3. Join a support group – connect with like-minded individuals to share your experiences and manage any feelings of loneliness and/or social isolation.

Josh Savage

  1. Every day do something that scares you a little.
  2. Try again, fail again, fail better.
  3. Stay authentic. The more you try to please everybody, the more you please nobody. 

Victoria Sarangova

  1. Let yourself be in uncomfortable states. But don’t get frozen in it. Observe it. 
  2. Use the artistic instruments that you have to explore actively. 
  3. Learn to learn from loneliness (and other liminal states) and make it your ally.

Alicja Rogalska

  1. Form a collective with peers who share your values. You don’t have to work together, it could be about creating exhibition opportunities, organising regular gatherings, or activism.
  2. Practice solidarity and join a union – it’s the people that make the (art) world and unless we stand up together to bullying, discrimination and exploitation nothing will change.
  3. Be honest – it’s easy to lose track of who you are behind all the social media and other facades. But to be able to connect with others you need to be honest with yourself.

Jotham Sietsma

  1. Go out there and find your kin! This might not be the people from your city or even country. Go abroad for residencies, exchange or co-creation programmes (you can find a lot of them at On the move and via Transartists). Being in a foreign place can open doors and offer connections you never imagined, also to yourself and your self-perception.
  2. Going out there is not easy. If you don’t naturally have it, and you started life more as an introvert like me, I recommend developing the skill of starting a conversation. Walking up to another person that looks lost or lonely and say: “Can I stand here with you, so neither of us looks stupid?”.
  3. Keep trying, you never know what or where is the place you can belong, make meaning and make a change.
  4. PS: AiR zusa is a great artist residency programme in Berlin that works on the topic of mental health

Meet the interviewees

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz

Marta Jarnuszkiewicz (b. 1990) is a visual artist, educator and lecturer with PhD in arts, currently living in Berlin. She has been working at the Faculty of Interior Design in Warsaw and at the Warsaw Film School. She completed her doctoral thesis under the artistic supervision of Professor. Mirosław Bałka. In May 2024, she launched the ART ASK project, which includes a podcast in Polish entirely dedicated to the topic of art education. The first episode in English will be released soon, too.

links: www.martajarnuszkiewicz.com; https://www.instagram.com/artask.project/?hl=en

Marta Jarnuszkiwiecz
Marta Jarnuszkiwiecz

Sanaz Amidi

Sanaz Amidi, trained in the Fine Arts at the Central St Martins and Camberwell, holds Accounting and Executive Coaching qualifications, a Global Executive MBA from the IESE Business School, and a Strategy in Not for Profit Management from Harvard Business School. Sanaz is currently a Trustee of the English National Ballet, NED at Creative United, Independent Chair of Creative Newham, and Special Advisor to the Contemporary Visual Arts Network London. 

links: www.sanazamidi.com; https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanaz-amidi

Sanaz Amidi
Sanaz Amidi

Josh Savage 

Josh Savage is an artist, leader, and visionary. From living room tours to headlining stages alongside legends like Robbie Williams, Snow Patrol, and Bright Eyes, UK artist Josh Savage’s ascent is a powerful testament to independent artists everywhere. Born in London, raised in Paris, and now echoing through Berlin’s vibrant music scene, Josh’s journey is a masterclass in passion, innovation, and resilience. In the evolving digital age, Josh has been a trailblazer in the Music NFT space. His “Love Letters” collection is the UK’s #1 Music NFT by an independent artist. In 2024, he launched the GM Good Music Podcast about the Music NFT scene.

links: http://www.linktree.com/joshsavagemusic

Josh Savage
Josh Savage

Victoria Sarangova

Victoria Sarangova is a Kalmyk multimedia artist and educator based in Berlin. She studied Performance Art at Central Saint Martins in London and holds an MA in Art in Context from the University of the Arts Berlin. Through her research and embodied techniques such as performance and hand embroidery, along with narrative mediums like sound essays and video art, she dismantles established narratives and explores both collective and personal memories and identity. 

link: http://www.sarangova.com/

Victoria Sarangova
Victoria Sarangova

Alicja Rogalska

Alicja Rogalska is a Polish-British interdisciplinary artist based in Berlin and working internationally. Rogalska is currently a PhD researcher in the Art Department at Goldsmiths College. Her practice is research-led and focuses on social structures and the political subtext of the everyday. She mostly works in specific contexts making situations, performances, videos and installations in collaboration with other people to collectively search for emancipatory ideas for the future.

link: https://www.instagram.com/alicja_rogalska

Alicja Rogalska, photo by Piotr Pietrus.
Alicja Rogalska, photo by Piotr Pietrus.

Jotham Sietsma

Jotham Sietsma is the former CEO of zusa – art of collaboration and is now a self-employed consultant and facilitator. He has lived and worked in Amsterdam, Montreal, Kyiv, Istanbul, Berlin, and now Leipzig. He loves cooking and spending time with his 7-year-old son.

link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jothamsietsma/?originalSubdomain=de

Jotham Sietsma
Jotham Sietsma

Interviews were conducted in the summer of 2024.

About The Author

Patrycja
Rozwora

Artist and writer. Studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Critical Studies Department at the Sandberg Institute. Her ongoing research relates the post-Soviet countries. In 2020, she launched a podcast series called ‘Kitchen Conversations.’

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