Sky Fusco and Holly wrestle with fundamental questions about the role of the artist in times of crisis: Who gets to claim the title of artist? Is making art "enough" or should creative people abandon their practices to become EMTs and nurses? The conversation explores the existential doubt that plagues many creatives during unprecedented times, the fantasy of having "useful skills" instead of making vulnerable art, and how Sky uses herself as a guinea pig to give others permission to follow their creative impulses. The discussion evolves into Sky's recent decision to step back from dating men—not from hatred, but from exhaustion with those who refuse to engage in the internal work that women have been doing for decades, while maintaining that love remains her North Star even as she redefines what healthy relationships look like.

Artistic vulnerability and managing consequences of public sharing; writing about real people and relationships; intellectual property and copying in art; living as a full-time artist; claiming the role of an artist; existential questions about usefulness during crises; publicly changing your mind and contradicting previous positions; divesting from dating men and the male gaze; women's exhaustion in patriarchal systems; men's avoidance of feminist education and internal work; hetero-pessimism and relationship refusal; love as antidote to pessimism; redefining love and being the change you want to see.

Sky Fusco is an artist working across drawing, painting, writing, and a public practice she calls Internet Caretaking. Her commercial studio, ROCK SHOP, is located in Morro Bay, California. Her Substack, Unsupervised, has over 25 thousand readers, and makes frequent stops at topics like relationships, personal histories, living in community, creativity, technology, addiction, self-actualization, and navigating the digital Anthropocene as an artist. Sky took an unconventional educational path before claiming her artist identity at 27, Sky makes her living entirely through creative practice. Her visual work features bold emotional declarations, including the piece "We've been having feelings for years, they're perfectly safe." Her writing explores artistic courage, relationships, and contemporary women's experiences with sharp observation and visceral honesty. Sky's work serves as permission for others to follow their creative impulses, change their minds publicly, and use their lives as ongoing experiments in authenticity while maintaining love as a guiding principle.

Sky's Substack; Sky's website

Original music by Gracie Coates @graciecoates @gracieandrachel on Instagram, gracieandrachel.com

Sound engineering, editor: Adam Day, adamdayphotography.com

Producers: Holly Whitaker, Adam Day, Kate Sines

Original art by Misha Handschumacher, cmisha.com

Transcript

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