Tess. Lotta Photography

One of 7 panels for my Eve Mandate series. The Rachel Kann Eve is about confronting the viewer with a woman that radiates a confident and comfortable authority of her body and sexuality, rather than a body sexualized for the male gaze.

The Rebel Beauty Project starts with LA-based poet-Priestess Rachel Kann, a longtime collaborator of mine over multiple lit/poetry & photography projects. Rachel is a super-nova talent and soul-filled human of the highest order.

I asked Rachel to respond to what I have always admired as her seemingly fearless ability to put her work out into the world. From teaching at UCLA Extention, to live poetry and spoken word, video, and her new book, A Prayer on Behalf of the Broken Heart (on Finishing Line Press), Rachel brings her all—fully and without any hesitation.

So, Rachel, for many artists, putting the work out there is a fucking scary experience, at minimum, and can be downright soul-crushing. What is your secret? Is it simply ninja-level courageousness? What compels you to move your work into the world and how do you deal with the emotional aspects of getting your shit out there?

OK, so the answer to this is alarmingly practical and simple. First of all, I do suffer from soul-crushing fear and all the rest. Do I ever! There is only one thing that keeps me consistently creating: deadlines. Yep, I said it. Just good old-fashioned accountability and deadlines.

Even in the creative writing workshops I teach for UCLA Extension and the like, I notice that it’s really the deadlines that lead to the generation and creation of new work. It’s that accountability that my students have to their fellow workshoppers.

And the same thing goes for me. I’m very grateful to write for Hevria. I have a deadline I have to meet. And that is how and why I create new poetry. There is so much fear, so much baggage, so much BS to try to hack your way through… Or hack my way through, I should say… having a deadline you’re accountable for is the only way I have found for myself to circumvent all that.

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Click here for my artist statement on The Rebel Beauty Project. Like the Tess. Lotta Photography Facebook page for a heads up on the next Rebel Beauty post, as well as my photo projects. Thanks for supporting indie artists!

Dial In:

• Rachel Kann: website, Hevria
• Feminisms: NOW, Women For Women, Girls Inc., Make/Shift, Ms. Magazine