October 19, 2019

So many good people interact with us online and walk through our doors at the Centre for Stories, and so we’re pretty proud of the little community we’ve grown. Collaborations often turn into comradeships and patrons become friends. Short Talks is a series of interviews highlighting the remarkable people who have connected with us at the Centre for Stories. Some are writers, poets, and storytellers, and others are arts workers, community leaders, and small business owners.

We invite you to get to know our friends a little more. Today, we feature Lucy Aboagye–a multidisciplinary artist with a desire to cultivate community, inspire people, and help shape culture through creativity and the power of words.

She writes about the power of creativity, her brand Not Yet Perfect, and what it means to find freedom in art.

What brings you to the Centre for Stories—what are your motivations or ambitions for your Bread and Butter event?

I’ve known of the Centre For Stories for some time now and love what they do. My motivation for sharing my story stems from having gone on a long journey of accepting the beauty in imperfections. I have always wanted to encourage others who may be also travelling that same road to let go, and not let their desire for perfection hinder them.

What will you take away from your experience here?

Going through the Story telling workshop has been an invaluable experience. To then share my story with the new knowledge and a greater appreciation for story telling made the experience all the more memorable.

One thing that was really highlighted on the night for me was the strong sense of connection that I felt towards the audience. Seeing how through storytelling, being open and vulnerable can really bring people together, even if just for a moment, there is a realization that we are all different, but we are all really the same.

What does storytelling mean to you—and why is it important?

Story telling has always been important to me, it has always held great significance as it was through story telling that I have learnt about my heritage. Having migrated to Australia at a young age, I was able to get a better understanding of who my parents were, where I’m from, and learn more about my culture through storytelling. It has revealed another aspect of my identity to me, that I may have otherwise been unaware of.

You often speak about the power of creativity in helping those without a voice, especially youth- what is the role of arts in helping others for you?

Understanding the power of creativity is an empowering concept for many. Using art to illustrate how one’s ideas can be turned into a tangible thing, is a great illustration of how our ides are actual things. They are thoughts and ideas that you can create in both a positive and negative way. They are thoughts and ideas that if nurtured and thought about, can become new innovative objects, system, they can shift culture, they can start movements.

So the role of art is giving people a glimpse if the bigger picture of how creativity is powerful, and sometimes what we create can speak louder, and have a greater impact than anything that we ever say.

Your brand, Not Yet Perfect, values liberation from perfectionism in art. How did you come to this amazing philosophy, and how have your experiences shaped this idea?

This concept came to me after spending many years feeling a little defeated by the fashion industry, as I felt I was never hitting the mark. I had such a strong drive to be perfect, and obviously never reached it.

It didn’t take long before I realised how perfectionism was actually holding me back. I stopped trying new things because I had the mindset that said ‘why bother? It won’t be good anyway.’ Then I stumbled onto pottery, I quickly saw that the imperfections in pottery held such beauty, and Not Yet Perfect was born.

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We’re on a mission to create a diverse, inclusive, and cohesive society through the art of storytelling. Join us in supporting emerging artists and sharing powerful stories from across our community.

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