FAME ?S

What if you are already famous and don’t know it?

What is famous? What does it mean?

More important, what is fame to you?

Who gets to decide who and when you are famous?

Do we get to decide, or is the choice completely on the exterior world?

In my opinion, I think it’s a 50/50 thing when looking at it like an exchange of energy or services.

Fame: being widely known or recognized by others.

That means part of fame comes from what you put out, and part of it comes from how people receive it.

You create something.

You give something.

You show up a certain way.

Then the outside world decides what they recognize, what they repeat, what they support, and what they remember.

That exchange matters.

It is easy to lose sight of who you are if you’re not careful to separate the showman from the person.

This has happened to many.

The person becomes the performance.

The image starts running the life.

The attention becomes something they have to keep feeding.

The wise learn to control their narrative and, in doing so, control how they are famous.

Not necessarily whether everybody knows them.

But what they are known for.

That part matters.

Because being famous for something you don’t even recognize in yourself can become a prison.

That is part of what I was thinking about with this painting.

In comics and cartoons, symbols and exaggerated expressions are often used to show confusion or discomfort.

That’s what I used in this picture.

The # ! ? floating over the figure are not just decorations.

They represent the noise around fame.

Attention.

Reactions.

Questions.

Pressure.

Confusion.

The uncomfortable feeling of being seen while still trying to understand what being seen even means.

The figure looks caught in the middle of it.

And maybe that is where a lot of people are.

Known, but still unsure what being known means.

Recognized, but still trying to separate the person from the image.

Seen, but maybe not fully understood.

So what’s the point, Folkz?

Glad you asked.

That’s the point.

Break the word down and ask yourself what famous asks you first:

Fame is? 🤷🏾‍♂️

Fam – (ous)

Maybe before asking whether you are famous, ask yourself what fame actually is to you.

Because if you don’t define that for yourself, the outside world probably will.