"People might say I'm difficult, but did you ever hear anyone describe a label as 'difficult'? By nature, artists should challenge. When they call you difficult, it is a reflection of the imbalance of power"
About this Quote
Michelle Shocked flips the smear of being "difficult" into a diagnostic tool: if the machine calls you hard to work with, maybe the machine is the problem. The punchline is that tidy comparison to a label, a corporate entity no one ever pathologizes. Labels can be predatory, fickle, and controlling, yet they get framed as "professional". Artists, by contrast, get moralized. "Difficult" isn’t a neutral descriptor here; it’s workplace PR dressed up as personality critique.
The intent is defensive but not apologetic. Shocked isn’t pleading to be understood; she’s challenging the vocabulary itself. In creative industries, power rarely announces itself as power. It shows up as expectations: be grateful, be flexible, be marketable, don’t ask too many questions. The moment an artist asserts authorship, boundaries, or even basic negotiation, the relationship gets recast as temperament. Her line "by nature, artists should challenge" is doing double duty: it’s a romantic claim about art, but also a labor claim about the job description. If art is supposed to unsettle, then an artist who won’t stay docile is simply performing the role honestly.
The subtext: being labeled "difficult" is often a preemptive strike. It isolates the artist from allies, warns collaborators, and reframes conflict so the institution’s demands look like common sense. Shocked’s last sentence lands like a thesis statement for every lopsided contract: the insult is evidence, a tell that the negotiation isn’t between equals. In that light, "difficult" becomes what people say when they can’t say, "You’re not complying."
The intent is defensive but not apologetic. Shocked isn’t pleading to be understood; she’s challenging the vocabulary itself. In creative industries, power rarely announces itself as power. It shows up as expectations: be grateful, be flexible, be marketable, don’t ask too many questions. The moment an artist asserts authorship, boundaries, or even basic negotiation, the relationship gets recast as temperament. Her line "by nature, artists should challenge" is doing double duty: it’s a romantic claim about art, but also a labor claim about the job description. If art is supposed to unsettle, then an artist who won’t stay docile is simply performing the role honestly.
The subtext: being labeled "difficult" is often a preemptive strike. It isolates the artist from allies, warns collaborators, and reframes conflict so the institution’s demands look like common sense. Shocked’s last sentence lands like a thesis statement for every lopsided contract: the insult is evidence, a tell that the negotiation isn’t between equals. In that light, "difficult" becomes what people say when they can’t say, "You’re not complying."
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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