Kimball Jenkins is honored to continue this Inkubator program with Manchester InkLink in order to provide spaces for young people and diverse program participants to publish their work. These unique interorganizational programs create safe spaces for community members to be compensated and incentivized in using their voices as tools. Thank you to Waypoint for supporting the arts in residency program designed and incorporated this year at the Hanover St Youth Resource Center!
Art is a theory. A theory of creativity, self-expression, use of voice without speaking. You can create nearly anything, no matter the subject, that you can either keep to yourself or show the public eye. Art is not just drawing or painting, it is also writing, poetry, dance, song, fashion, makeup. It is limitless if you put your mind to it. You don’t have to be a certain age or ethnicity, gender isn’t even a relative thought when it comes down to it, and the great part about our world today is that you can even be an anonymous artist. No one knows your name, your age, gender, whereabouts–all they know is your art and the story you tell.
As a disabled, gender non-conforming, indigenous individual; art means everything to me. Since I was a little kid, I have always expressed myself through various forms of art. It started with writing, as I used to write novels with an old friend of mine in middle school as we pretended to be authors publishing a book. Though I never finished any, I have found that even though I can’t directly imagine things in my mind, I have a wildly creative imagination. My entire life my mother was an artist, and even to this day she still is. I can vividly recall walking out of my room most nights to my mom painting or drawing. Her preferred medium for art is glass, painting her own nails, as well as knitting or crocheting. Every year for Christmas she would paint on blank glass ornaments for people, make scarves, mittens and hats, and sometimes she would create other little things as gifts for people. Growing up with this was what opened up my mind to more options for art. I started to experiment with painting, which didn’t necessarily work out, and then moved onto drawing. I still do drawings from time to time, but I wouldn’t personally say I am the best at it. Through years of trying different things, extensive and detailed coloring, as well as dancing became my preferred forms of art. I express myself best in the way I dance as a ballroom dancer, which is something I have been doing for 8 years.
Art started becoming more important to me when I began to use it as a way to combat my mental illnesses and disabilities. I was deemed permanently disabled after a pretty bad accident at the end of July, and all it took was for one woman forgetting to look both ways as she blew through a stop sign over the speed limit to take away a lot of my freedom. I started to experience extreme anxiety and flashbacks from this, which I found I could control through coloring. Oftentimes I spend hours on coloring pages from books by my favorite artist, and as someone who is in a current fight for their life, I use ballroom dancing as a way to possibly heal my body from the damages caused by my accident. Through this experience, I met some very memorable people that work with Kimball Jenkins School of Art.
I was rendered homeless in April of 2022, and have been around 3 states since. In New Hampshire, I’ve been to Dover and Tuftonboro. I stayed in Waterbury, Connecticut for a while, and even Newport, Maine. Once coming back to Manchester after the multi-state journey, I sought out options that were available for a 23-year-old homeless person. I was led to Waypoint, which is a Youth Resource Center for anyone ages 18 to 24. I have now been here for the past six months.
I met the Kimball Jenkins facilitators, two of the best people I have met who work for KJ, when they came in to Waypoint one Wednesday for an art day. After getting to know them, they wanted to include me, along with others who had already volunteered, in their newest project with Waypoint. They wanted to make a mural on the back wall of the building, using all of our drawings to meld it together. These drawings include how we view the city, our experiences and what we envision the future of Manchester as. Getting closer to these two individuals allowed me to realize that I wanted to do more in the arts.
My advice for anyone who reads this–no matter your struggle, whether it be physical, mental, financial: do not give up on your art. Especially if it holds you down as an anchor, express yourself through it. May it be silence from racial or gender oppression, trauma, and other life experiences, it is important to have an escape. Reach out to the community as there are so many resources out there made for anyone and everyone—I have found great solace in my community.
The Inkubator program is aimed at nurturing and growing New Hampshire’s local journalism ecosystem – support for educators, opportunities for students and pathways for future journalists, artists and creators. And beyond that, we want to engage our community in this process because together, we rise. Your tax-deductible contribution helps power the Inkubator. Click here to learn more.