Female artists work and creativity in the rural : Beyond core and periphery

In this paper we suggest that far too often economic geographic theory has been based on simple core-peripherydualism that mask the reality of creative work in rural or peripheral areas. We take a relational approach andsuggest that being on the periphery does not necessarily mean isolation from the centre nor does it mean relegationto lower levels of professional and creative possibilities. The study examines a sample of femalecontemporary visual artists in the rural Swedish region of V¨armland and suggests that affordability and work-lifebalance are the essential reasons for the locational choices of these peripheral artists. Once settled they employtwo strategic coping mechanisms: embracing the creative possibilities of being on the edge; active creation ofnetwork spaces and relations. We suggest that for creative workers’ binary spatial divisions are not appropriateand that more nuanced relational geographies support both rural and individual creative careers. In particular,we emphasise one such binary: the presumption that whilst urban creativity is collective, rural creativity isindividual and lacking the benefits of closeness and agglomeration. Rather than the dualism presented in thecreativity literature, we suggest that the case exposes the importance of thinking relational, spatially andtemporarily in terms of project and career life cycles. These artists are not making black or white choices betweenthe social city and the isolated rural but attempting to mix the advantages of both together through translocalprocesses and networks.