The reality of living in Bali as an artist part 1
Let's talk PROS.
I have lived in Bali for nearly 5 years and yes, it’s absolutely ludicrous how blessed I am to live and create art on a tropical island.
I acknowledge my privilege.
At the same time, it’s not all perfect in paradise (despite all the propaganda on social media). I am a foreigner, and by default, that creates limitations on what I can do here.
Whether you're a visual artist, musician, or writer, I’m breaking down the inspirational highs and challenges of making art on “The Island of the Gods.” This is my honest account based on my personal experience living in the Canggu area from pre-pandemic to present day.
I have asked a few friends to weigh in, so please don’t miss the audio at the end for more diverse opinions.
Pros of Living in Bali as an Artist
#1: The creative community
I’ve observed that most people come to Bali due to these 3 B’s:
Burnout
Breakup
Business
Ever since Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Eat, Pray, Love, Bali has become branded as the best tropical escape from high-stress lifestyles, where people can recenter, heal, and start fresh. This includes Indonesians from other islands who view Bali as the “land of opportunity” or “an escape from the concrete jungles of Jakarta.”
My point is, Bali has become a safe refuge for many a lost soul to slow down, live on island time, and search for their life’s meaning which somehow slipped away in the hustle and bustle.
People from all over the world come to this tiny volcanic island to feel alive again.
And what results is a melting pot of weirdos and wackos going through a ~phase~ of unbridled expression and experimentation.
The experimentation can take many forms: screaming under a waterfall at a Balinese water purification ceremony, getting sober freaky at ecstatic dance, biohacking your body to a pulp alongside fitness influencers, and having a fling with your local surf instructor.
For the Closeted Creatives, experimentation in Bali looks like finally reading your poetry out loud, finding the time to pick up your paintbrushes again, or in my case, singing at an open mic.
Suddenly, away from all you’ve ever known and amid strangers, you realize you can be anything you want.
That’s the magic of this place. One day I’m crying into my journal about how silly I feel because I want to sing and write songs. And the next day, out of nowhere, the salty breeze resuscitates my inner child, sputtering and wide-eyed, and I burst with the joy of choosing myself. Away from all the pressure and noice, there is a soft permission, granted.
Calling myself a singer-songwriter doesn’t sound so ridiculous when my guesthouse neighbor is calling herself a fire dancer, and my other neighbor says they’re writing a memoir.
Then at a weekly open mic (of which, there is an abundance), I tell my friends I’ve decided to release an original song on Spotify and they’re beaming back at me.
Because in Bali, saying your creative project out loud is sexy.
It’s almost like a rite of passage here. There’s the unraveling, the piecing back together, and the beautiful community serving as connective tissue.
Because when you're in an environment with people actively choosing reinvention, your own creative transformation feels not just possible, but inevitable.
#2: It’s easier for me to tune out social pressure
Many expats in Bali will soft brag and say things like, “I broke out of the matrix” and “I escaped the Western machine.”
Ok, I admit it, I say that sometimes.
True, the claim that I “could never do the 9-5 life” is oozing with privilege… yet, the benefits of the ~slow life~ are undeniable in Bali.
I’ve lived abroad for a total of 8 years now. So the moment I land in the US for a visit, I immediately sense an undercurrent of anxiety.
Within the airport, I see morbidly obese people being pushed in wheelchairs, security standing guard with assault rifles, and every single person wearing the latest athleisure brand (is it still Lululemon?) while refilling whatever water vessel is trending (is it still Stanleys?).
Everyone is so friendly and exudes American charm, and it feels comfortable and familiar. But I can’t help but notice they look tired and… ok, I’ll say it… medicated. 😬
To be clear: I love my home country and I’m so happy I grew up there. I love spending quality time with my family and feeling all the nostalgia and familiarity.
And let me tell you, American society sure functions well. The fact that people follow traffic laws and don’t cut in line is ‘nuff said.
But I have to admit, every time I visit, I struggle with my self-worth. Because in America, it is strongly defined by your career and the things you’ve collected.
This is how it goes…
One week in, I start doubting my entire life.
It appears all my friends have golden retrievers and husbands and mortgages and pilates memberships.
The gas prices! The grocery prices! My parents (lovingly) remind me to get proper health insurance because they’ve worked all their lives for their nest egg and God forbid I get sick!
Second week in, I succumb to the pressure of buying the latest trendy brands, then find myself fantasizing about “getting a normal job” so I can buy more and fit in and be cool.
I cope by watching hours of Netflix and I gain a few pounds from Crumble Cookies. And worse of all, the very worst of all:
I don’t write any songs. I hardly sing at all. In the matrix, I revert to the Closeted Creative.
I recognize there are creative hubs in the US where artists congregate together and thrive. This is just my experience going home to the copy/paste manicured lawns of American suburbia.
And I don’t blame people for choosing conventional life paths. Pursuing art is risky when you’ve got fat student loans and health insurance to pay.
Many of my Indonesian friends have expressed similar sentiments of escape. They have fled the traffic and pollution of Jakarta or Surabaya, where their conservative families have unrealistically high expectations of them.
So maybe we all escaped the matrix??
I don’t believe that it means escaping a specific place, or lifestyle. But instead, intentionally seeking out what feels right for you. For me, right now, that's living and creating in Bali. It offers me the mental space I need to create. And crucially, it offers the financial breathing room that makes choosing songwriting feel possible rather than precarious.
#3: Financial Breathing Room
Although the cost of living in Bali has risen considerably in the last 2 years, it is still more affordable than living in London, Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, and other popular creative hubs.
The lower cost of living means many artists here can dedicate significantly more time to their craft. Materials are cheap and easy to come by. Whether it's painting supplies, studio time, or simply having the space to create, money goes way further here.
That said, affordability comes with complexities. As more foreigners flock to Bali, gentrification is displacing locals and driving up prices. This phenomenon isn’t unique to Bali.
For centuries, artists have gravitated toward areas with a lower cost of living, allowing them to focus more time and money on their creative pursuits. For example, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Montmartre, on the outskirts of Paris, became a vibrant hub for artists like Picasso and Van Gogh. Its cheap rent, lively cabarets, and thriving community of creatives made it the perfect place to live, work, and collaborate.
As these areas fill up with studios, galleries, and performance spaces, they gain popularity, rent rises, and the cycle repeats as artists move on to more affordable places.
Last year, I moved 25 minutes outside of Canggu to a sleepy surf village. Here you'll find many locals and Bali "old-timers" — expats who have been here a few years and prefer to avoid the chaos of Canggu.
New art spaces are opening up and I wonder how much longer it will be affordable here, if the green spaces will stay green, or if they will soon be sold off for more cookie-cutter villa developments.
It's a strange position to be in. I will always feel the tension between being part of the expat community while also being concerned about its impact. More on that in the cons…
Small tangent aside, affordability is an undeniable pro for expat artists in Bali. It is a great place to hunker down, create, and take your money a long way.
Cons of Living in Bali as an Artist
Read part 2 which reveals the top challenges of being an artist in Bali.
Feel free to click the ❤️ button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack.
I’d love to hear your comments below.
Bali community - do you have anything to add from your personal experiences?
Friends/family in the US - do you feel it’s challenging or easy to create there? Did I exaggerate about the stressful environment or did I spit truths?
Almost forgot - check this quick audio below for more opinions from fellow creatives in Bali.
Last night, I went to “Writers Corner,” a small group that meets once per month to share writing and get constructive feedback. I asked for their input on this newsletter topic!
Until next time chickos and chickettes,
It's interesting the part about US. There is this great comfort of the friendly nature of people who also all speak your language fluently, the diverstiy is also one of the pros in Bali but you also lose that language and culture comfort familiarirty where you kinda just feel like everybody understands you a bit better. But in the end it also feels like a giant pause being back in the west in a way. Like there is not as much room to grow. But maybe it's partly the depth of a much bigger pond that feels overwhelming and unmanageable that we don't feel as motivated.
I love this. I think you touched upon something I want to do more research on. How I never figured out where “home” was to me as an artist. The phenomenon of artists, throughout history, relocating to places with a lower cost of living so they could focus on their creative pursuits and ideas is a new topic to me. Those from many generations and centuries who have had to travel to actually create because creating is something that runs in their blood. Maybe it’s not a characteristic they have, rather a form of epidemics from family lineage.
After doing some research, I think you should look into the DRD4-7R gene!
So fascinating!
-Breeze