“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” -Dorothy Bernard
This recent Oprah conversation with Viola Davis is fantastic. There are so many gems in here that any artist will find useful and inspiring. I strongly encourage you to watch. (Thank you to my friend Marilyn for turning me on to it. And if you haven’t seen “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” on Netflix, do so now. It’s spectacular. Performances are off the charts good.)
Two moments from the conversation that really struck a chord:
(1) Viola on impostor syndrome and “owning the room”….
It’s hard to walk into the room and ‘own it.’ I never understand sayings like that–because it’s completely antithetical towards being an artist. All artists I know have the impostor syndrome. They all do. They don’t walk in the room going ‘I am it. I did that. I know I did that performance’…But “Ma” helped me to harness the Viola power. The feeling that I deserve to be in the room. The feeling that I deserve all that I’ve received in my life because I worked for it.
(2). Viola talking about her co-star–the supremely talented and sadly passed away all too soon, last year–Chadwick Boseman…
What I will remember about his legacy is his integrity…He was not concerned with being a movie star as much as he was concerned with being a really great artist…He even learned how to play the saxophone, even though they were just filming, sort of the hand movements. But he was still learning how to play after the scenes where he was playing were over. That’s dedication.
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