Vol 4 No 1 | Winter 2023

Letters from the Editors

I hear a lot of creative people discuss wanting to discover their own unique style. This applies to visual artists, musicians, writers… everyone. It seems like a big topic, as it’s essentially a question of identity. “Who am I as an artist?” Naturally, people would want to have a strong sense of who they are as they make a place for themselves in any creative field.

One way that people develop their style is through deliberate decision-making. You experiment some, you find some methods or details you like, and you develop them by practicing over and over. You make sure it’s something other people aren’t doing quite like you, you create a bunch of works employing this unique stamp, and it becomes your signature. It’s probably a fast way to identify oneself, but it can feel forced, and that sort of deliberate repetition can leave you feeling pigeonholed. Are you sure you want to limit yourself to specific parameters? Are you allowed to branch out? Can you try other things and still be you?

Another method is to explore your identity more organically, letting your process guide you. Without any set plan, you just create constantly, gradually amassing an enormous body of more diverse work. Eventually, you have so much in your catalog that you can step back and see what patterns emerge and define yourself accordingly. The end result can feel more authentic and you have more freedom of movement. The downside is that it takes much, much longer, which is a time commitment not everyone can afford. How long does it take to find the parallels between your 2-D animation, your blown glass, and your stand-up comedy?

Which of these tactics is correct? What’s the best way to discover who you are? Is your identity defined by your actions, or are your actions defined by your identity? And more importantly, does it matter? Does a creative person need to be on-brand? If you try something new, does that mean it’s unlike you, or do we consider it growth? Are people allowed to change? And if I’m a cake decorator/choreographer/mystery novelist, does that make me impressively diverse or sloppily inconsistent?

Personally, I am in the “Who cares?” camp. I say do what inspires you, regardless of if it’s the first time or the 284th time. Whether you’re lucky enough to know your style by design or you’re lucky enough to be exploring your own outskirts, remember that either way, you’re lucky enough to be creating at all. Let’s bear in mind as we read through the following interviews: Everything you do becomes something you would do, just by virtue of your having done it… right?

Can I take a moment to express my gratitude and pride? This issue marks five years of Bait/Switch, and with its publication we now have over two hundred and fifty creative works within this corpus. That is absolutely amazing. Two hundred and fifty unique expressions in a variety of disciplines from interdisciplinary artists all over the world.

When Cody and I were discussing a theme for this issue, we came up with (In)Consistent because it points to some of the miraculous ways this group of artworks relates to each other. Even though many of the participating artists reported that what they made was inconsistent with the work they make in their usual practice, the works in each thread are remarkably consistent with each other.

For example, note the gorgeous, repeating hand imagery in the Cyan branch. Within Magenta, isn’t it cool how the colors from Madeline Miller’s artwork somehow traveled through leaving lost’s song and made it into Melissa Diaz’s piece? Take a look at the process sketches from Jackie Hamilton and note that one of her original ideas looks shockingly like Christopher Pedraza’s All Seeing Lamp! How did that exact imagery flow through Elise Largesse’s poem Badsightedness? While I’m nerding out, can I also point out how within the Yellow branch, Babel Khan and Katie Straus both ended up focusing on pulling colors from the previous work (and if you look back, that’s also what Laura Hegarty, who made the piece that Babel Khan responded to, was focused on). The magic of this project never ceases to amaze.

We are delighted to present this collection of eighteen incredible works, and hope you continue to discover these amazing connections yourself. I am so excited to see what this new year brings, and hope it finds you energized, empowered, and inspired.

May this be the year that (at least one of) your craziest, wildest dreams is realized.

Map of Works in This Issue

Bait/Switch is an interdisciplinary exquisite corpse project. Every work is a creative response to a piece made by another artist. The project is divided into three branches- cyan, magenta and yellow. This map/diagram shows how the works in this issue fit together, and what came before. You can see the entire corpus on our maps page.