We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joshua Goode a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Joshua, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
Imposter syndrome is something I have always struggled with and continue to struggle with. Art is an ethereal and subjective career path and success is defined in a myriad of ways. It is easy to observe the triumphs of other artists and creators and feel envy and discontent–social media only exaggerates this. To overcome this, I constantly remind myself of my own reasons for creating artworks and develop my work to the best of my abilities. I immerse myself in my studio and artwork production and challenge myself to constantly improve, measuring each new work to those that came before. Because at the end of the day it is the joy of creation that drives me.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
As an artist I am researching and developing mythic historical misinterpretations and manipulations in an effort to expose the malleability of our past, present and future.
My alternate history and mythology preserve memories of childhood by reimagining pop objects and imagery from my youth as iconic ancient artifacts. I created the fictitious Texas based Aurora – Rhoman civilization inspired by the achievements of major historical figures. Having studied history and worked as an archaeologist on many actual excavations, I conduct staged excavations around the world, working with the community as a performance. My constructed artifacts of the invented civilization mix fact and fiction to appropriate and distort the history and myths of each region I engage. The actual and fake objects “found” during these digs have been exhibited in Spain, Germany, Russia, Croatia, Egypt, Italy, China, Belgium and the US, among others.
My faux research institute, The Aurora-Rhoman Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, examines the evidence of my ancient civilization at locations around the world. Inspired by amateur archeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann who discovered Troy and by past elaborate hoaxes like that of the Piltdown Man, I use my “discoveries” to manipulate and verify my invented civilization. The archaeological performance and installation begin with extensive historical research and end in an exhibit. The discoveries and claims are false and absurdly comical but based on real research.
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?
Work ethic is important. I maintain a rigid studio production schedule, knowing that inspiration frequently comes while working. I also embrace mistakes and use them as opportunities to solve a problem in a new way, mistakes invite creative problem solving. And of course, lifetime learning is key. I am interested in many different fields of study–art, history, archaeology, natural science, paleontology, literature, philosophy, poetry, music, cinema and television and am able to weave these interests together in artworks. Eternal curiosity fuels my research and informs each new artistic project and allows me to crossover into different fields of study and collaborate with a variety of experts. It keeps things fresh. I grow bored of repeating the same art processes over and over again and am always looking for a new challenge, a new opportunity to learn. I would encourage your readers to find ways to maintain their curiosity and not be afraid of failure.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I frequently collaborate with archaeologists and historians to develop absurd satires of the actual history of a location in an effort to reach a broader community, a community that expands beyond the typical range of our individual efforts. I look for opportunities to research the history of a new location and engage with the local community through a faux archaeological performance where we jointly make an ‘unbelievable’ discovery that playfully references the actual history and mythology of the area. The event invites the sharing of oral histories and allows these traditions to expand and enter the contemporary conversation. It allows people of various backgrounds and outlooks to connect through shared histories and experiences, to realize how connected we all are and have been. If you would like to collaborate on a project please contact me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.joshuagoode.com
- Instagram: @joshua_goode
