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Writer + Visual Artist

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Thank you to everyone at 'Sundays' who listened to me read poems about all these feels.
This is the final graphic from my CultureStrike partnership. Everything I needed to hear when I was a young writer. Everything I need to remember as I do the work to write it down every day. Rp from @CultureStrike "A message to young poets & writers from artist Giselle Buchanan @gisellebuchanan It’s a daunting thing to hold a pen and say, “These words mean enough to share them with someone outside of myself.” One might think it self-righteous to write and reduce the act to a triviality while the world is in, what some believe to be, dire conditions. The truth is, nothing could be more urgent. These times call for the telling of new stories. This time calls for the writing of new myths. Proverbs to carry us into the next phase of our existence. This requires boldness and a willingness to wander through what feels like a tangled and impossible terrain, trusting that in moving forward, a path will emerge. All that you write will not be ‘good,’ but you must not be afraid to write it. I’ve seen so much talent lost as casualty to fear. We need our writers to assist us in our collective imagining. We to be able to imagine our earth as a barren wasteland where nothing can grow (so we can feel the urgency of the need for change). We also need to see it, at least once, as a lush and unending sanctuary- abundant and free of borders. There are still too many people who cannot imagine themselves loved because they have never seen it written. Because they have not had the luxury of seeing this love in their lives up close. Each one of us holds the key to our collective liberation, and it begins to take shape when we start imagining."
More from the art I made in partnership with @CultureStrike As we move towards building more equitable systems, the way we as artists approach language and whose narratives we center needs to change. The people we support in crafting narratives also needs to change. With people who have lived experience, there is little place for secondhand observations. Countless books and films are written by people on the periphery, but those who are central deserve access, funds, and space to speak about what is true for them personally. Black, Indigenous artists of color, womxn and femme artists, queer artists, disabled artists - folks that speak to and of their own communities- deserve finances, support, and resources invested in the elevation of their voices. In moments of tragedy, we often want artists from these communities to speak out, and we may even have money for them at that point, but we need to support them even when it is not a trending topic or a cover page story. We need to support these creators when it is quiet. When it isn’t popular. As an artist in community with many other artists, I have seen firsthand how hard we have to work to barely get by. The need to ‘grind’ and ‘hustle’ can sometimes eclipse our greater need to have room to daydream and create. Daydreaming is a necessary part of the creative process, and the stressors or daily survival make it a luxury inaccessible to many of us. Physical, tangible space is necessary as well. Those in positions of power looking to support artists must ask themselves, “How many artists am I providing actual space for?” Often, institutions claiming to advocate for disenfranchised people have unused rooms and excess funds, that can be resources to support creation and community, but are unwilling to provide it, or unaware that this is necessary. All the ways people in positions of privilege can lend sustenance to the creative process serve to provide sustenance to the entire culture.
I partnered with @culturestrike to share my thoughts on authentic storytelling, artist leadership, and culture shifting through the arts. Over the next few days I will share. Here is the first one. Rp @culturestrike "In partnership with @CultureStrike, we asked artists to reflect on what it means to embody and practice authentic storytelling. Here artist @GiselleBuchanan shares her art and writing on how we can reflect one’s genuine self and story through art we create. Authentic storytelling requires being willing to get specific and acknowledging that only I am capable of telling my own story, that only we are capable of telling our own communities’ stories. It is being willing to be resolute and uncompromising about your choices, even if you know they won’t work for everyone, even if one day those choices will change (like all things that are growing). Too often, we are made to feel as though we need to be relatable to everyone. That everyone must be included when we begin to tell our stories. That the able-bodied white cis male is the norm and everyone else is too extraordinary. I am beginning to believe that this is not where the magic lives. I’ve been asking myself, how can I tell this in the way only I can? How can I refine my lens so that those I am intending to reach, the ones yearning for the story I have to offer, can find me? Find ways to lean deeper into the things that speak to your particular constitution, and trust that those made of the same stuff will recognize it when you open your mouth."
Grateful to @CultureStrike and @thesoniag for a fantastic #ArtistPowerSummit on Saturday. Excited to continue growing and creating in community 🌿💜🎨
Excited to be in LA leading a workshop @culturestrike #artistpowersummit tomorrow.
Dreaming is part of the creative process. So is downtime. In an age where input is constant, and constant output is expected, unplugging to dream is as radical as it is necessary. Sometimes I don’t have anything to say. I sit down to write and nothing I connect with really comes. During those times, I know that I am simply being asked to fill my container. That I am in a stage of receiving. In my many years as a creative person, I’ve found the most profound downloads occur when I make time to empty- of expectations, action, and force- in order to tap in to the deeper space of quiet where dreaming takes place. This doesn’t mean my creative process stops. I still show up to the page in all the ways I can. We learn from nature that even when the land is bare, there is a deeper process being nurtured below the surface. Help facilitate it by making time to wander- outside and in the depths of your mind- undisturbed.
Los Angeles ✨ I'm really excited to share new poems and stories on 9/15 during 'Sundays' at The Standard in West Hollywood. It will be my first time backed by a band, which should be fantastic. Doors at 8PM. Thank you to the Angel @josephmatick for including me.
 
 
 
 
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