Brain Food #740
At the end of the copy you will find yourself
Thoughts of the day
I recently came across this quote by Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto:
“Start copying what you love. Copy copy copy copy. At the end of the copy you will find yourself.”
In a world of no original ideas, the words deeply resonated. Thinking that something has been done before, and subsequently preventing ourselves from following a certain curiosity, could be a grand act of self-sabotage. The same content is being circulated and recycled across newsletters and Twitter. Art is being remade and resold, even (and nowadays, especially), in its digital format.
The estimate is that 117 billion people have lived on Earth across time. Perhaps the point is that there are no original ideas.
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
[MovieMaker Magazine #53 - Winter, January 22, 2004 ]”
― Jim Jarmusch
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