Chapter 5: Selfless: My Voice is Art

No, I am not an artist. No, I never did anything like this before. I don’t draw, used to play saxophone, and I don’t write. I titled this chapter a few things before deciding on the final one. At first, I thought about empowerment and art. Why? I grew stronger and so did my voice. And then, after reading this again, and thinking, I decided to call this “selfless.” I realize artmaking is about and has the power to help people help themselves. It has the power to help us look inside, figure things out, and in the end, we change. It starts with me. I was more focused on helping other people, but when I do that, what happens to me? I knew in the end, that if I focus on other people, I got lost. I didn’t want to be lost because I was hurting. The art gave me a chance to do something to help myself and that’s why my title is “selfless.” I realized I can’t be selfish. I needed to actually do this for me and in the end, I helped other people. If there is a line outside the door to see someone talk, I can’t just think about me. But in this art, I thought of others. I thought of what I actually needed. It was powerful and my voice was part of this art.