Facing the critic. And an odd feeling

Hettie Judah, art critic and author, has just published How to Enter the Art World, a guide for late-career starters and artists returning after a long break. As part of her tour, she invites four local artists to speak about their art at each stop.

I applied. Got selected.

Anyone from my previous life knows I'm no stranger to presenting. Clients, colleagues, competitors, crowds.  Years of corporate training, reasonably confident delivery. Standard.

But presenting my own work is a different game entirely. Was I nervous? No. Yet there was a feeling I could not quite name or shake off.

Driving home afterwards, my sister, who'd come with me to the event, said: "You weren't nervous. You were vulnerable."

I've been thinking about that ever since. My presentations are no longer decks. They're the work itself: what I made, how I thought about it, what it means. That's a different kind of exposure. No slide to hide behind.