Earlier this week, I was sent photos of a horrendous ‘restoration’ of Castillo de Matrera in Cádiz, Spain.
Carlos Quevedo, the architect responsible for the above, explained that he set out to accomplish three things during the project: “To structurally consolidate those elements that were at risk; to differentiate new additions from the original structure … and to recover the volume, texture and tonality that the tower would originally have had.”
After I picked up my jaw from the floor, I looked at the images a little longer, and came to a realisation.
For some inexplicable reason, the restoration reminds me of a struggle creatives of all levels of experience and talent face:
Keeping their work intact in the face of opposition.
Hear me out.
This opposition does not just come from criticism or complaint, but often from those intimately connected to the creative project. A friend told me only recently that he’d been working on a play he’d written over this last fortnight. When the cast and key crew were assembled, they started offering advice as to how to make the play better. Only wanting the best for the project, he agreed to several changes.
Before he knew it, the play was unrecognisable.
If your creative work requires collaboration, you will likely experience this situation at some point.
If you’re not careful, your idea will be altered like Castillo de Matrera. Patches of your concept will remain (like that strange patch attached to the top of the rendered wall above, looking like it was glued on), but let differing views influence you, and soon the core will be tainted.
You’ll blame yourself.
You may even want to give up.
Don’t.
This is your creative dream. Stand strong in the face of adversity; sometimes only you know what’s best for your art.
Ultimately, it is better to find happiness in a project that isn’t quite as successful as you hoped, than to be successful in something that you hate.