Written by Ema Sabljak

Bohemians. The alienated artists. The impoverished intellectuals. The wishful wanderers. Ever since the ancient times hailing anything taboo. They are the open-minded romantics who look at the world from the perspective of art with a disregard for money and the materialistic.

You may wonder what they have to do with you, but in today’s world you most likely are one. Have you ever been told to give up on your dream? “It’s too impractical! What will you do with that?” Whether its literature, art or music, in a world were science is considered to be the prime occupation, it is likely you’ll be discouraged. It’s the idealists, who despite the knowledge that they shall suffer, still go on to try. The Bohemians are happy to just write for the sake of writing and paint for the sake of painting without thinking about the rent.  (Obviously, they truly are idealists.)

Virginia Nicholson, the author of Among the Bohemians, said: “We are all Bohemians now.”We live in a world of open-minded people where art is becoming easier to spread by the day. There’s Youtube – “Broadcast yourself!” as their motto says; there’s Deviantart, Tumblr and countless other sites to express your talents. Becoming an artist seems to be simpler than ever.

Despite all of that, it hasn’t become easier to succeed, in fact it has assured that there is more competition than ever.  There is a reason artistic souls are still discouraged: failure is considered to be the most likely outcome of artistic occupations, the lack of income is a universally accepted fact. But this only further supports the Bohemian rhetoric, as despite those premonitions, the number of aspiring artists continues to grow.  Additionally, a great part of our current society has orientated itself towards creativity, open-mindedness and individuality.

La Vie Bohème is hardly a sub-culture anymore, it is our culture. Don’t be afraid to follow your passion. Don’t be afraid to “go” Bohemian.