If you’ve known the feeling of inadequacy that eventually grows into Imposter Syndrome, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. I feel you
It’s important to speak about the ways in which the world marginalises you, especially when you come from a minority background, or don’t have access to the same opportunities as others. Representation pic
I’m recounting some of these painful experiences because I think it’s important to speak about the ways in which the world marginalises you, especially when you come from a minority background, or don’t have access to the same opportunities as others. Even ten years ago, when I met people in Delhi who were doing their PhDs abroad, I felt so much awe and envy and shame, like they were somehow better than me. Until I realised they were simply better privileged. It has taken so much to undo my own complicity in my oppression. As a female writer, authorship is something I have had to fight for. I have had to decolonise my mind to understand I was never ‘late to the party’ I was simply not invited, or had to gatecrash to protest my exclusion. Last week while I was looking for a piece I had written, I came upon an essay in a very important publication, about art in the public realm and was shocked to find that an important piece of activist work that I had been responsible for initiating was credited to another person, a friend, in fact. The writer of the essay had got their facts wrong and it really felt like something was taken away from me. I had been painted as the supporting cast when in fact I had been the protagonist. It brought up a lot of these insecurities about how much I have to fight against how I am perceived. How my scholarship is only ever acknowledged belatedly. I’m writing this to tell you that if you’ve known this feeling of inadequacy that eventually grows into Imposter Syndrome, you’re not alone. I’ve been there. I see you. I feel you.
Deliberating on the life and times of Everywoman, Rosalyn D’Mello is a reputable art critic and the author of A Handbook For My Lover. She tweets @RosaParx
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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