Meet Skye Kühr

We were lucky to catch up with Skye Kühr recently and have shared our conversation below.

Skye, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

This one has always been a struggle for me, my biggest demon even. My mental health has taken a front seat over the past couple of years, and I’ve since realized how real the fight is to maintain it. My particular challenges stem from a number of things, including aftermath of my military service, family challenges, and cultural differences from having spent most of my 20s overseas in Japan. For me, the first step in persisting with mental health barriers is learning to identify them. From there I can better analyze myself, habits, and triggers. Regardless, mental health is a marathon, not a race, so take one day at a time and address one issue at a time. That’s the most we can really do. And as a creative in the face of crippling motivation from mental obstacles, just doing anything at all, it doesn’t have to necessarily be “artistic”, will help stir inspiration, because when you accomplish one menial task, it’ll lead you to another and another. In short, movement has been my method of persistence.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I did everything I’ve been told in life. I got good grades. I served in the Navy. I earned my degree. Yet, I’ve never felt satisfied, constantly in search of something deeper. I never had the courage to do what I wanted for a living, to use my skills, and build something I could call my own. I’m sure this lead up has been used a million times, and never did I think I’d use it.
Since I’ve move back to America a couple years ago from living abroad in Japan, I realized that the Art world is a totally different animal here. Photographers of different genres are all competing against one another, gallery spaces are very limited or gatekept, and artwork seems to exist online more than in the reality. I’ve been in progress working on my first photography zine (after 15+ years of shooting) and other physical artworks, and noticed that many others in every community I see are striving to do the same, but resources and communication is limited. My goal to help change that is to create a publishing label that photographers and artists can communicate, set up events, and sell. For example, if I wanted to sell a zine, I’d be able to visit my site and find bookstores and cafes and such that might be open to carrying it. Anything to help grow our Art community. There’s no reason to compete, there’s more than enough Art left to be created.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Whether its music, art, cooking, flying, whatever, the most important in any discipline is mastery of the foundations. Every teacher and sensei will beat that into your head so make a habit of it. Once you learn all the basics, you can start breaking the rules for creativity’s sake and understand the “why” behind it. Next is enjoyment. Art serves to capture expression, and yes, it can capture displeasure, but if the act itself turns to work without merit, challenge, progress, or joy, then there’s no reason to do it. It’s okay to put it down for a little while and pick something else up to refresh. I do it often. But beyond that, it’s important to remember to enjoy the “whole” ride. If you’re destined to the life of an artist to create with whatever tool you use, we artists experience the most dynamic ups and downs, all the intensities of life, and everything our environment throws at us, which later becomes fuel for our works. Remember that we need the hard times just as much as the successes. Third most important is to continuously learn. Progress in all directions. Don’t be opposed to learning about something in which you have mundane interest because you’ll be shocked when you use the knowledge in the future. Expanding our knowledge also informs our art and helps it grow in new and unexpected ways.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

Yes, I am looking for people who would be interested in many types of collaboration! I’m looking to connect with poets, authors, artists, musicians, photographers, and any other creatives who are dedicated to their practise. I’m looking to not only connect myself, but also help others, for example, say an author wanted custom artwork for a new book, or a poet needed illustrations done, or a videographer needed music recorded, or a band needs portraits done. Art spans across the borders like the colors on a spectrum and I want to help foster that sort of growth in our community.
You can reach me at skye.dwr@gmail.com
My website is www.darkwhiteroom.com

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.darkwhiteroom.com/
• Instagram: @darkwhiteroom
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/darkwhiteroom

Image Credits

All images by Skye