A Midday Rant in Pictures

When things feel impossible, when the words of “slut” and “whore” and “not good enough” and “not strong enough” get to you, you create.

And at first, it feels meaningless and as if you are just cutting and pasting random words from an old philosophy textbook you found, but then, things start to mesh together.

No longer are you internally yelling at yourself, the structures and oppressors and doubters that led you to this self-hatred.

It morphs from self-escapism to self-expression.

It is not, “I am not strong enough” but instead “how can they not see how strong I am”.

It is not “I was not loud enough” but instead “they should have listened to how loud I was”.

And everything begins to tangle together. These flips of words and pictures and colors start to make sense. They start to feel real.

You begin to see yourself on a page that physically looks nothing like you. When things feel impossible, art never is.

When things feel impossible is the perfect time to explore how you feel and what you are and what has been done to you and how you can overcome it.

You can see how things that once felt necessary to survival, simply aren’t anymore.

And the calls and the colors that feel misplaced now make sense. They are not perfect. You are not perfect.

You are real though. This thing you made is real. And the voices begin to quiet. The voices seem like a distant memory and calm waves over you.

At the last edits of pen linings and paint, you can finally see a bigger picture. That what you have made is larger than any hateful and fearful voice will ever be. You wait for it to dry and pin it on your wall.

By Maya Swift

Instagram: @mayaisabelaswift