When the World Stops Turning, The World Turns to Art.

Struggling as a freelance artist during a time when people are obsessed with art and the work is shut down. 


Photo by Ima Loop — 35mm film — 2015
My name is Ima and I am one of the thousands of freelance artists that live in Austin, Texas in 2020.
On my social media all of my friends are sharing music that moved them, engaging in conversations about the latest TV show they binged or movie that they watched, praising murals that are plastering the city and posting about the last book they couldn’t put down.

During the Shelter in Place orders, everyone I know is turning their focus on art to distract themselves and save their sanity. 

In February my means of survival was selling paintings, working my ass off for 12 hours a day on film sets, being hired for photography shoots, odd jobs and some occasional carpentry assistant work for a good friend named Tom with “Dead Boy” tattooed across his throat and a big enough heart to give me a chance with no previous woodworking skills. 

Within a week everything changed.

Like a light switched being turned from the lucrative ON position to complete darkness. 
I had just begun to put some money in savings to build a tiny home, I was finally ahead in the freelancing game and I had the time to do the things I love and focus on my future. 

Then one day there was no more work. 

No one was buying my art, Photoshoots and film sets were shut down and I couldn’t leave the house except for essentials. 

At first it was nice to be forced to slow down and I had a bit in savings. Then things were extended and I started to sweat a little. I had enough in savings to pay May’s rent, but my accounts were starting to dwindle. 

My saving grace is that I have been sober for a year and I no longer smoke cigarettes. 

I don’t have to worry if I have enough liquor, weed or cigarettes to make it through the pandemic. Another thing the promises of sobriety have delivered me is the ability to live cheaper than I ever have before in my life. 

Here’s the problem I faced when looking for financial assistance:

I don’t have pay stubs, I can’t get letters of employment and I don’t have confirmation of how much money I have lost due to COVID-19. 

I was denied state health coverage

I was denied food stamps. 

I am fighting for unemployment. 

In a time when people are looking to artists for help, where do the artists look?


I was lucky enough that a friend paid me $50 to hang art in her house but that was the first “job” I have had in almost two months. I have a car insurance payment to make, my inspection and registration are now 2 months past due on my ride, my phone bill is coming up, I have to pay gas and electricity plus I have to eat.

One of my plans is mid month I am going to post my paintings on facebook and try to sell them for a small fraction of what they are worth to try to raise rent for June. I am praying that I sell enough to raise the $965 to pay my rent and bills because living in the art oasis of Texas is not cheap and I can’t rely on friends or family to rescue me because everyone I know is struggling if not financially then emotionally. 

Everyone has that “Hug Me but don’t Touch Me” look and it breaks my heart. 

I can’t compare my insides to the outsides of my loved ones on facebook and I don’t know how much anyone is struggling, I’m not really the GoFundMe type and I am seriously considering selling pictures of my boobs to strangers like I did in my twenties. 

I am lucky that my roommate and best friend has worked from home for years and can continue his job. He has graciously offered to help me with a tab if I fall behind. I’ve been avoiding it, but I might have to walk that tightrope as I try to balance my finances. 

I have a mixture of excitement for what will change, eagerness to do my part in self isolation, and fear of the unknown. 

I know for a fact that I can’t control the outcome and I can’t give up. 

So I keep my mind healthy with meditation and writing. 

I keep my body healthy with real meals and no ready snacks. 

I keep socially healthy with phone calls and I have been spending some time making long awaited amends to people I have fallen out of contact with. 

This is a good practice in acceptance and the lack of control for me. Whatever will happen will happen and in the current climate with society looking to art, it is my obligation to keep creating as often as I can. 




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