Rejected, Ghosted, Forgotten: A Love Letter to the Unchosen / Part II

"To remain unseen is not the same as being lost.

Some of us are just cultivating silence."

– ojolo [internal exile, studio edition]

We spend years creating things that no one will ask for. We draw, write, build, and obsess. And when we’re done, there’s no crowd, no press release, no trending hashtag. Just a quiet room, and the echo of a question: Does it matter if no one sees this? Does it matter if it never leaves the studio, if it never trends, if it never gets minted or monetized?

Well, my dear reader, the answer to that question is deeply personal and is never the same with every artwork finished. But ultimately, it does. Because the value of a work isn’t measured by its reception, but by its necessity. By the urgency in your gut that said: “make this.” Even if the algorithm doesn’t care. Especially then.

You needed to make it. That’s enough.

vermeer, meisje met de parel

Ask Vermeer. He painted the light hitting a wall like it was divine truth. He died in debt. No royal patron. No crowd. No tan. But centuries later, we whisper his name like a spell. His Girl with a Pearl Earring has become a meme with a sad cartoon tear and a black mouth scribbled in Paint. And still—somehow—she’s eternal.

Rejected, Ghosted, Forgotten: A Love Letter to the Unchosen / Part II