Michael Mroczek

On Being Stuck, at Home

Impressionist Shower
Morning sun illuminates the shower stall in our guest bathroom. The textured glass of the door gives the objects behind it the look of an impressionist painting. (I promise I was not sitting on the toilet while taking this)

I spent the majority of this weekend wrestling with the idea of what it means to be an artist. And how despite doing this for over a decade, I'm uncomfortable with being called a photographer, let alone an artist.

While the rest of the family was suffering from various types of flu-like symptoms, I was suffering from a bout of something much more opaque. Imposter syndrome.

The big question I had is when does the work transition from man with camera to evoking an emotional response in a viewer? The short answer is: it probably, already happened a long time ago.

Something to add to that is: Maybe it doesn't matter if or when my work evoked an emotional response in someone else. Maybe the only moment that matters is when it created that response in me.

Perhaps the only way to overcome this bout of imposter syndrome is to put my head down and keep creating.