DMP Artist Statement

 I feel very privileged to have been part of this team and this assignment. We all shared and were so blessed to receive some very real and raw stories. There was a lot of processing throughout this process; that is to say, at times it really did feel like a group therapy experience, so we decided to just lean into that with the ending of the piece being set up in a sharing circle-esque space. It became clear early on in the idea generation stage, that we needed to find a way to honor the limbo stages of our lives: to recognize that they happen and we can learn from them even though they are difficult. 

Initially I was tempted to put a more carefree spin on my stories. I've lived a bit more life than my classmates, and I try to avoid stepping over, disillusioning, or not taking them seriously. Because we are all living a lot right now, and concerns that will seem small later, don't feel that way right now. So I don't want to dwell too much on my own experience or make it seem bigger than anyones if that makes sense. I've experienced some pretty heavy things, so in the beginning when we were recording stories, I made mine a little more lighthearted. I focused on funnier things. But I came to realize that wasn't an authentic contribution to the spirit of the project. Not that we were aiming for all heavy things, but we were aiming for honesty. So I had to reexamine which sides of the story would best fit into the spirit of the project. And because I’m not as theatrically inclined, I also had to find ways to shed my self-consciousness. I told myself that I needed to be willing to explore whatever space (physical or otherwise) that we decided to pursue with shameless intentionality. I couldn’t let my own fears about myself and how I appeared hamper the performance or the message. Where I was worried at first about embarrassment, I found that exercise very freeing. 

Overall, I’m extremely proud of what we’ve created together. It really did feel like a group effort as well (with the exception of Skyler who went above and beyond with compiling the digital piece). I do feel that I contributed ideas, media, and texts, and it was wonderful to feel safe offering ideas and giving feedback to each other. Our team was really good at considering ideas and choosing directions without giving/taking offense. They are a stellar group of people to work with, they were so considerate and creative, that it was a wonderfully energizing experience. 

For these reasons, even though it is initially rather tied with self-consciousness, but has the potential for a lot of meaning and growth, I can totally see trying to create something like this in one of my classes. To keep things from being too personal in that setting, I might choose to have students create a piece based on a selection of readings we’ve done. But the application is definitely there - such great theme and character analysis is possible, as well as finding ways to portray without explicitly saying something, etc. There are many ways to apply this experience to a secondary English classroom.