When I was five years old, adults would ask me that familiar question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would answer with conviction, “A vet, or Madonna”. Neither of those things eventuated.
Now when people ask me that other fated work-related question: “What do you do?”, I’ve learnt to reply, “I’m a slasher”. It usually gets a chuckle or I have to explain what “slasher” means. And for those who aren’t familiar with the term, a slasher or slashie is someone who wears many hats and holds multiple professional identities.
A quick web search and these headlines appear: “One Person, Multiple Jobs”, “The Rise of the Slasher”, “A New Generation of Chameleon Workers”. The Urban Dictionary says slashers are sometimes known as “hustlers” or “work-a-holics”. Yikes, this is a lot of labels that I can’t commit to. I’m going to stick with one, like I said, I’m a slasher.
The beauty of this word, despite it relating to a certain genre of horror movie, is that it really does encompass what I do. I’ve never done just one thing for work. My career has been full of paid and unpaid work that crosses over into various industries and areas.
Early on in my twenties, I would have identified as a: student/ photographer/ retail assistant/ street artist/ VJ/ market stall holder/ waitperson/ home decorator assistant/ projectionist and now, decades later I relate to any of the following: writer/ director/ producer/ filmmaker/ small business owner/ arts manager/ rollerskater/ film shoot caterer/ researcher/ teacher/ assessor/ secretary/ arts practitioner/ mentor/ permaculture student/ community cultural development volunteer.
Slashers have to know how to adapt and sometimes camouflage. Depending on the context, the slasher often has to swap hats in an instant – whether schmoozing with different people in a networking situation; switching from zoom call to zoom call on the daily; or literally running from one job to another. Often it will require an actual change of costume in one day.
In my aforementioned twenties I lived in a small country town, and within 48 hours I might: finish at my 9 to 5 day job selling tiles to wealthy people building luxury houses; change into my hospitality uniform to serve up fancy regional food and wine to tourists; wake up early the next morning to sell Pacific Island crafts from my family’s village at the local market; and then head to the cinema that evening to run a movie as part of my volunteer 35mm projectionist job. Eventually, I saved enough money to hightail outta there on an extended overseas trip then land myself back in a different state and a new city, on a new path. Just as any slasher would do.
I think that being a slasher is relatable identity, and many of us have done it at some point. (I haven’t even touched on the roles we have within our families and communities). The thing is that I never set out to be a slasher. When I was in high school, the burning question was: “What are you going to study at university?” Back then, my answer was, “Journalism” – until I actually started the course, realised that it wasn’t for me and quit leaving a hefty HECS debt. In the misery of feeling like I let everyone down by quitting my only potential career path, I randomly bumped into Bernard Fanning of Powderfinger in a Chinatown grocer. To my surprise, Bernard told me that he too had once started that same journalism course at the same university… and he quit. It was the 90s, and we all know what happened next for Bernard, I guess he decided to give music a shot? For me at 18 years of age, knowing this, I somehow I felt less alone in the world.
The thing is that sometimes the labels between those slashes fall away and we have to pick up another hat or dig deep to find the courage to pursue a different path. So here I am now, six years of university later, a career of slashing, and I’m on a mission to add “slash entrepreneur” to the list. To quote Mr Fanning, “These days turned out nothing like I had planned.”
From all of those career-related questions over the years, I used to think that I had to be just one thing. In many contexts, we’re encouraged to believe in a singular career identity. But I’ve come to realise that one can have multiple passions, pursuits, interests and career paths. And that’s totally okay. In fact, it’s beneficial. As many artists and creatives know, lockdown was tough. People from every industry had to find new ways of working and generating an income. The same was true for me but I’m glad that I had a few hats to choose from and that I’ve developed the grit to pivot and keep growing.
If I could go back to my five-year-old self I’d change my answer to: “I want to be a vet/ Madonna/ a slasher”. To all the slashers out there, you’re not alone. Keep learning, doing, slashing.
What kind of slasher are you? Let us know on Instagram.
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Amie Batalibasi is founder and director of Colour Box Studio (slash all of the things mentioned above).