The Power of Art and Personal Identity: A Conversation with Iden

Iden Crockett built an audience online, then began to question what keeping that audience was asking her to become.

Iden returns to The Tragedy Academy to talk with Jay Hicks about making art while platforms push artists toward the same trends. Leaving social media meant trading thousands of followers for a much smaller mailing list. It also meant returning to a rule she had written on her studio whiteboard: be honest.

The conversation moves from algorithms and creative pressure to parenting, gender, and the courage it takes to let people see you. Iden discusses her experiences as a transgender artist, how making art has helped her understand dissociation, and the work she was developing around insomnia. They explore what she calls radical vulnerability and why an imperfect piece of work can still open a conversation that matters.

What We Explore

• Creating for an audience while protecting your own voice
• Leaving social media and rebuilding a connection with viewers
• The pressure to turn art into content
• Parenting, acceptance, and room for individuality
• Imperfection as part of the work
• Iden's experiences with identity and dissociation
• Radical vulnerability and making space for other people's stories

About Iden Crockett

Iden Crockett is a multimedia artist, writer, and first responder. Her work explores identity, mental health, and lived experience. In this return conversation, she discusses her creative process and projects involving insomnia and documentary storytelling.

The Tragedy Academy

Candid conversations exploring the human experience through tragedy and triumph.

Hosted by Jay Hicks.

Be cool. Keep learning. 🌳

The Tragedy Academy is a show created to bridge societal divides in a judgment-free zone using candor and humor. 

Be cool. Keep Learning.