¡Firme!

The term starving artist needs to go away. The art industry is a much a challenge as retail, food, and professional services. The two types of artists and how they are perceived in the world differ. Artists are professional creatives like any other profession. Many educated, uniquely skilled, and provide services others cannot.

A story about growing up thinking photography was difficult for dark skinned people. It was, foo! Until I spent more time with photographers of color, and learned about the inequities of a creative medium.

Colorism in film photography is a topic I remember discussing since forever ago. There are certain issues with photographing different film types and light and dark skinned people. The “Shirley card” was and in many ways still the industry standard for color correction. Was this intentional? Is this just the physics of light?

To me cameras are more than tools to take photos. Each image taken is a chance to improve the ability to make a better negative. This results in having the foundation for a beautiful photograph. Like the steps it takes for equity among a community, we have to start at the the shared vision of what we want to achieve. Then take care of each step to reach that goal.

Being the diverse community we are from México, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, y más.... we put our individual cultural pride as a wall between ourselves. Then the smaller communi like Chicano, Bórica, y más continue to further break us apart. If we could unite under one identifier to the white community, I feel we would have a stronger voice. Gente... the people... no gender, no geography, no color, all people. Among our gente we should still celebrate our individualism, and unite as gente to the non gente community to see we are one strong family.

Culture is interpreted differently according the region your in. Wash community has a slightly different lens. This is good for learning about where people come from and how they navigate their space, and also bad for thinking others are the same as you. Social norms stand out as much as skin color.

That moment when you can connect on a cultural and social level on a sensitive issue.

Online spaces are not bound by borders, or limited by availability, and have direct traffic. Your doors are always open to people anywhere, and on their time. You can still have engagement. How? Listen for more information.

Isolation for many is difficult, or can be refreshing for others. As an artist of color I’m isolated from my culture just by living in Spokane, WA. Being separated from my gente, and having to navigate through a white dominated arts community is my everyday. Much like many artists of color across the country.

Statements of solidarity are great, but what happens after the words are posted on social media? When and how do these words become real changes in our BIPOC communities?