“I no longer wanted to blend my art with design (in the form of illustration design). Art could give me access to magic and freedom, and I was no longer willing to compromise. For a long time then, I created art only for myself and hid my works from the eyes of the world. But there came a day when I returned after a long time abroad and discovered that I had lost them all.”
“You can imagine how shocked I was. It took me a while to realize what a big blessing the universe had given me. Not often in life do you get the chance to start all over again. By losing all my original artworks, I was pushed into a mindset of wanting to publish and share my art with the world. For the first time in my life, I learned how it felt not to care about being judged. I was finally free to present the most authentic version of myself.”
– myREdrm
A FAIRY TALE ABOUT THE IRONY OF FORTUNE AND MISFORTUNE
CHAPTER 1: Early Life
Once upon a time, a little girl grew up in a small village in the German forests of northern Bavaria, far away from big cities and crowds and pollution and noise. It was an idyllic existence, a little slice of heaven. But every fairy tale has its villain. No fairy tale comes without challenges and evil characters.
As peaceful as the village seemed to be, it was covered by a dark curse that cast narrow-mindedness, ignorance and demonic qualities upon people. Only if you looked closely could you see it: a beautiful and flowery prison of the mind. A prison that dismissed creativity as nonsensical and worthless, where work was not allowed to be fun, where every last drop of female energy in all genders was misused and abused. A prison where people whose ego you hurt with their truth would destroy your whole life forever.
A prison where she was not shown how to defend herself, because only one person would benefit from that. All this, she was told, was normal and the same all over the world, so all that remained was to surrender to her fate. She learned to swallow and endure. Doomed to a life of endless melancholy and meaninglessness. What great misfortune!
myREdrm was too rebellious, too honest, too much. So she lowered her head and voice.
Her poems were too sad, scary, and depressing. So she burned them.
Her drawings were not perfect. So she hid them.
She learned a commercial profession, because that was something solid and valuable. Her world approved: she had acquired helpful skills for the future, had become orderly and structured, and learned how businesses worked. She had set herself up for a safe future. What good fortune!
One sunny day, she was wandering through the beautiful forests of her homeland with her head bowed down, when a fairy came up to her, lifted her head and whispered: “This is not all. There is so much more for you to discover. You must leave this village.”
Thus, the fairy lit the flame of hope and curiosity inside of her. Her educator, always a source of joy and motivation, unconsciously poured gasoline on top of that flame. What great good fortune! myREdrm burned brightly and, after successfully completing her vocational commercial training, set out to explore what else the world had to offer.
“I was in Byron Bay, Australia, working as a bartender at a vegan and gluten-free restaurant, mixing drinks with herbal extracts, making herbal coffee with homemade almond milk. I’d just started this job, my first during a one year stay in Australia, after I’d spent all my money. After the late shifts, I was riding back to the warehouse I lived in. 20 minutes riding towards the moon, into the night. In my mind’s eye, I could see this picture. Every single time. It got so intense that I NEEDED to get it out of my mind. I was quite broke, but I found billboards (in perfect condition) that a shop threw away, along with an old frame (it’s old and also a bit broken, but even today I just can’t separate it from the artwork, because it fits the whole idea of magical exhaustion so well). I bought the primary colors with black and white as wall paint, because it was just cheaper! So then, after every late shift, I came home to finish another layer.”
“In my creative artistic process it happens really often that pictures come to my inner eye and they get so annoying that I just HAVE to get them out: someway, somehow.”
[R] “Weird” from the collection “Phase Blau”, created March 2019 in Byron Bay, Australia
CHAPTER 2: Munich – Management, Design & Art
What a great stroke of luck that her achievements were never “good enough”. So she worked harder than anyone else and climbed the career ladder at lightning speed. What great fortune that she left her home village and discovered that creativity could be a professional after all. So she studied media design in the evenings, which she completed very successfully alongside her day job as a management assistant, project and team leader. What great misfortune that the curse stayed attached to her and followed her wherever she went.
What good fortune that she was so self-sacrificing, because this made myREdrm face an important decision very early in her career. She was invited to join the company she worked for as a co-owner. Financially set at the age of 24. What good fortune! But the fairy came around and hit myREdrm’s leg so hard that she asked for some time to think.
Six months passed. Six months of internal conversations about dreams, values, the meaning of life, passion, creative expression and being human. Finally, myREdrm announced her decision to the world and submitted her resignation instead. That was when she saw the Devil’s face for the first time, he who was trying with all his might to prevent her from continuing on her path towards the light. What great misfortune!
“How ironic that the German “Gift” (meaning “poison”) becomes a “gift”, a present, in English. After all, poisons are often used as healing remedies in small doses. And this is not only true in a physical sense, but can also be applied to personalities and mental topics. We live in a world of duality and so light and shadow, heaven and hell, feminine and masculine qualities exist together and are yet separated from each other in the dance through time and space. It needs the right balance to be able to grow and it needs the experience of the extremes to find the right balance. There is always darkness in the light and light in the darkness.”
[R] “Toxic” from the collection “Tox-Rox”, created June 2020 in Maßbach, Germany
CHAPTER 3: Berlin and the World
Having arrived in Berlin, myREdrm celebrated her victory and studied Illustration & Design. She inhaled the creativity and freedom that her new home had to offer, and took her design and illustration skills to a whole new level. She also explored various jobs and soaked up all the knowledge that would later work to her advantage. She started traveling, first within Europe during semester breaks, and later to far away countries, experiencing new and wonderful cultures. Thus, her horizons expanded and her mind opened to dimensions previously unimaginable. What a blessing!
However, she could not escape the curse that weighed on her and its power grew stronger and stronger in the dark. So it happened that a demon crept into her life unrecognized and took everything from her. Her confidence, identity, her path, her primal trust, her life essence, her artistic works, her friends, her health… Thus she fell into endless sleep. But fairy tales aren’t always real, and so no one came rushing in to rescue her. What great misfortune.
But the flame that the fairy had kindled in her never went out. It gathered all its power in secret and, like a tree, took root deep in myREdrm’s soul. Eventually, the flame burned myREdrm from within (what great misfortune) and made her rise like a phoenix from the ashes (what great good fortune).
Over time, she lost her fear of her own shadows and those of others. She realized that those creatures were not evil; they just wanted to help and teach, if only they were allowed to. Only our shadows can open our eyes to the truth. Our shadows can heal our pain in the only way that works: starting from where it all began. Her shadows took myREdrm on a journey through every part of her life and the lives of her ancestors. For the first time, myREdrm was able to see clearly. Demons could no longer hide from her awakened gaze and the curse no longer had a grip on her. What great good fortune! All the misfortunes that had happened to her pushed her over the edge of a cliff, and she woke up in a beautiful abundant garden.
But this beautiful garden became very lonely after a while. The realization came to myREDrm that the curse had not only affected her and her home, but a large part of humanity worldwide. So she made her way back. However, she found that she could not break the curses that others bore; she could not walk others’ paths. So it came to be that she started telling stories through images and words. Stories to inspire, motivate, and support others on their own journeys to find their way back to the garden she calls Eden.
“The end … is only the beginning.”
“I was back in beautiful Berlin, for which I had longed so much. But after a while, an inner restlessness spread. Inexplicable and impossible to put into words, the feeling grew that something big was going to happen. An inner trembling. Deep inside I knew it was time to go and bring a chapter to a close. It was not the time to live in a big city. So I quit my room and got ready to move on. The drawing “Let’s Play Death” was born out of that very feeling. What happened after that, in early 2020, I bet we can all still remember.”
Current, Future, and Other Work
myREdrm is a passion multimedia art project combined with psychology. It was built upon life experiences and a therapeutic art life coach certification. myREdrm’s goal is to shine a light for people who seek illumination and to give shade where it is needed. It seeks to inspire people to become the best versions of themselves and to help them recognize their misfortunes as the opportunities they really are and thus create a life full of true freedom, happiness, love, and peace.
In 2020, the myREdrm seed was planted in the form of a website that started as an artwork showcase and has evolved into a sprouting seed, an online gallery about light and dark together with its new and evolving online store. The Light Online Art Gallery, which is currently in development, stands for the beauty of life. But life is not just about living on the bright side; working through the darkness is an essential part of our experience in this world. The Dark Online Art Gallery stands for just that. Our shadows (referring to Karl G. Jung’s concept of “shadow work”) are our prisoners and we can set them free by shining light on them. All artworks are additionally linked to a song and also include related text. For example, you can visit the artwork “Anger and Giving” if you feel that anger and resentment cast shadows over your life, or over that of a loved one.
The Short Art Story project was launched in 2022 to become a supporting branch of the blossoming myREdrm tree and to delve deeper into individual emotional themes. It benefits greatly from myREdrm’s skills and knowledge as a designer. The print of Short Art Story #1 is already available via Amazon print-on-demand, and the eBook is available via the myREdrm online store, which is steadily filling up and where you also can purchase time-limited photo art prints and merchandise. The draft of Short Art Story #2 is ready and will enter the final design phase soon. For those reading this article, here is the exclusive reveal of the subject of #2: The steps of a narcissist’s manipulation strategy.
Utilizing newly acquired UX design skills, the website will shortly receive a big makeover. And, of course, new art is always being made! Currently, it’s all about collages, turning years of collected magazines into new works of art.
There is much to look forward to for myREdrm art lovers as soon as resources allow. All those who want to stay up to date are welcome to sign up for the newsletter via the website and / or follow on Instagram (don’t forget to ring the notification bell, as we don’t spam for the algorithm). Those who want to support the project and help it grow faster are very welcome to send greatly appreciated donations, make a purchase, offer a helping hand, or simply spread the word.
The Miracle Morning
Every time of the day has its own magic, but myREdrm especially enjoys the morning. It is always very special when the world wakes up to a new day. She loves to start the day when the world, with all its thoughts, is still asleep. She enjoys the peaceful silence that slowly gives way to morning birdsong. When the night gives way to the day with a delicate interplay of colors in the sky, and the sun rises again in its infinite patience and self-evidence. When the cool air, as if freshly washed, gently awakens her skin and flows through her lungs, combined with a warm drink that warms from within. This is when the magic happens.
So much peace lies in the quiet of the morning. So many opportunities and possibilities are offered by each new day, when little by little everything awakens from the land of dreams, where everything is possible. When thoughts are still at ease, there is so much room for the new and for the deep wisdom and insights of life. For her it is the mornings when the clarity of vision has the best access to her soul and it is so easy to simply be. What would it be like if this inner peace never ended?
[R] “Shine”, created April 2020 in Maßbach, Germany
Links
myREdrm Online Art Gallery & Shop: https://www.myredrm.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/myredrm/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@myredrm
Design Portfolio: https://styleistheanswer.me/
DREAM ON!
Diamonds are formed under pressure.
with love,
