Canadianno

This really made my day, thank you! I'm pretty pleased with them myself. Wanted something that highlighted my member's non-humanity cause it's something all of me has felt strongly about before I even hit double digits, and it unsurprisingly ties into my trauma history quite a bit.

Aw, you're so welcome and TBH I can somewhat empathize with this. For the longest time I tried to navigate the very white internet as an aracial blob, so I wouldn't mention my race anywhere- even in private, causal conversation and I didn't engage with my community cause all of my friend group was white/nonblack. Unsurprisingly, the lack of Black friends just spurred the cycle of me feeling like I needed to perpetually code switch cause no one in my circles could relate to me!!! No one talked like I talk offline, no one would get my cultural references, no one listened to my music, and no one had the same experience of absorbing the...overwhelming animosity aimed towards their existence while just browsing passively online. Like, it was nearly everyday I had to witness strangers taking random swings at Black people annnd I just had to keep it to myself and continue the performance 😃

I can't say that I was ever successful enough to dissociate from my Blackness completely, but it was only within the past year that I started publicly being into Black liberation/pride. TBH if you haven't already I would 100% suggest making a friend that shares your specific racial identity AND is passionate about it. That part is super important because you can still feel lonely even if you have other brown friends but they are just passively brown. No! Find someone that screams it from the rooftops!!! I can not put into words how much happiness it has brought me to finally have a Black friend who has a lot of love and joy over it. It came right at the time I was allowing myself to do the same!

Hey. Who's cutting onions in here.... (Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad my art was able to find you too, and I hope you know you're included in that last part. Let's stick around and see what the world has to offer together!)

My intention with this blog was to share things I experience as a system that also happens to inhabit a Black body. My friend said it best though: If you are a minority of any kind (or in my case, a minority of a minority), it's just the nature of people to push you into the role of educator whether you like it or not. My art is ALWAYS made for me. Sometimes it will be for me and the Black community when the topic is Blackness because I know what it feels like to have so little out there that acknowledges that experience, so I'm willing to share. Anyone else who takes something from it is incidental. That said, I do still appreciate that my art can challenge people, or make them more curious about the world around them. You're welcome ❤️

Collect our (tumblr) pages🕴🏿

For real though, noticing an absence is the first step. Good luck on your journey! AND THANK YOU, I grew it myself :]

I was 24, and complicated question. I knew vaguely about DID from researching it back iiin 2017? I had an ex friend with it who insisted that I shouldn't treat him any differently, but I still checked out the DID research website cause I wanted to try and privately understand his experience better (It was so inscrutable to me that I gave up pretty quickly! *The piano starts to fall on my head*). That being said, I didn't allow DID to be a possibly in my mind until I exhausted every other one, and at that point I just decided to defer to a therapist before I drove myself nuts.

HELLO! I may know who this is cause I think I saw you in my notifs before and got excited for the same reason LMAO. Hi!!! ^_^ / I looove seeing other animal collectives in the wild!!

It's strange to be thanked in such an earnest way for just talking about my lived experience, but I do get what you mean and I'm touched you found the artwork so poignant. I feel like I'm having a bit of imposter syndrome from how nice people have been to me, but I will be brave. I appreciate you!

Oh, my friend you are certainly not crazy. From an objective standpoint it's assault. A child is not a separate class of being that suddenly gives this more nuance, if anything I'm sure we can all agree it's even more horrific because a kid is completely dependent on their caregivers for survival. There is plenty of research on the topic that goes in depth if you're someone like me and you need an outside source to validate your suffering (working on it...), but two things can be true at once! A butcher can have love for their prized lamb, but even love surrenders to the knife's edge. It's more than ok to feel torn up over the fact that it wasn't enough to afford you dignity!