Fangjian Li

During pre-production for a low-budget student film, I raised concerns about an important scene set to be shot near an airport. Knowing that constant aircraft noise would be an issue, I suggested we either find a different location or allocate part of the budget to rent better sound equipment, like advanced noise-canceling gear or lav mics for the actors. Unfortunately, due to the limited budget, the production team couldn’t secure an alternative location or provide extra funds for upgraded equipment. Read more>>

Gina Gott

I make pieces that are witchcraft and cottage core in design, so I already know I’m a niche market. I had a show that was in a small town about 30 minutes from home and everything started normally, but as soon people started coming into the venue, I had people actually walk around my booth. It was the weirdest thing, like they were trying to avoid something bad on the floor (there was none). At first, I was taken aback, as I’d never had that kind of reaction before, but then I realized that this crowd was not my “people”, and that it is OK. I have learned to do more research so that I find the shows that work best for me. I firmly believe that every show helps me fine tune my audience and market. Read more>>

Sara Sweeney

Being from the paranormal community, there are many people that misunderstand my intentions. When trying to discuss the paranormal with business owners, people are quick to write me off as a fanatic that simply wants everywhere to be haunted. I am quite the opposite! I’m a researcher by training, so I take a very scientific approach to paranormal investigation. The process begins by researching the history of a given site. Understanding the history is paramount to correctly investigating the site. This is then followed by researching paranormal claims. Once on site, I try to debunk the known paranormal claims. For example, is there the scent of smoke? If there is but the room has wood, the scent is likely trapped in the material and released upon expansion. Read more>>

Nathan Austin

As a comedian I feel like my art form has been misunderstood for years. I believe that my humor falls under the category of dark/dry/and offensive. I remember making YouTube videos the first year YouTube started and having the videos removed because of subject matter. I will admit that the content was very controversial and it was making light of topics such as suicide, abortion, homelessness, and child molestation. Although several of these topics are something that I have experienced in my personal life, it seemed that addressing it in a comedic form was viewed as inappropriate. Especially since I was just starting out and no one knew my true vision or compassion for comedy. I learned very quickly that you have to pander to your audience. I believe that over time I have learned how to read an audience better and create material for that audience. Read more>>

Donterell Mcduffie

I have never not been misunderstood to some greater or lesser degree. I feel like on this journey as a creative, as an artist, if you aren’t misunderstood then you’re probably not as creative as you think you are. Creatives are fundamentally innovators. And innovators are misunderstood, because the thing you are attempting is not only difficult, but it’s never been done “that way” before. And when something hasn’t been done “that way” and other’s have failed at the process of “that way” they will never be able to see your vision. But there will always be an exceptional few who will say “this sounds crazy, but I believe in YOU.” Keep those people near and dear to you. Greatness will always be met with great resistance. Mediocrity always wants to pull greatness down to it’s level. Read more>>

Makayla Pirghibi

I think my biggest inhibition as an individual is that I’ve always felt misunderstood. You don’t need a reason to do what you do. You don’t owe anyone an explanation. As long as what you’re doing makes sense to you and fulfills you, that’s what matters. I stopped seeking to feel understood once I realized that I, as well as so many creatives, will never quite feel fully understood. There are so many boxes I have tried to fit myself into, but rarely succeeded because most of my interests and works are very niche. It wasn’t until recently, when I was engaging in a conversation with a counterpart, that I accepted I do not easily fit into boxes, because I am the niche, and my taste is the niche. It grounds me to know that the experience of feeling misunderstood is not only something us as artists encounter, but a feeling all humans share. Read more>>

Katt Holiday

– I think my work, my music, my art (though I hesitate to think of it as “mine” necessarily) has probably been misunderstood more often than not. I feel this is generally because a lot of the art I make sort of side-steps conventions. If a creative person is concerned with making any kind of money from what they create – the “industry” says “figure out what box it fits into (genre, style, image, function, etc) then group it with other things in that box and sell it”…which is not necessarily a bad thing, I think as people naturally we have this tendency to want to categorize things – Read more>>

Ashley Morgan

There have been plenty of instances in which my work has been misunderstood. At worst, my work has been ripped to shreds verbally by people who don’t understand my message or my work at ALL. I’ve had people call my work disgusting, vile, and even referring to it as “pointless pornography.” The truth is, my work isn’t any of those things. Men have been able to paint women in any light they want too for centuries upon centuries. In the Baroque period as well as the Renaissance, men have had private rooms full of paintings only including nude women painted from the male gaze. I have come to understand that the viewpoint in the art world towards women is incredibly sexist and my work tends to challenge that view. I’ve seen men create similar work to mine and they are praised for it constantly while my work is deemed “disgusting” because I am a woman making work from a feminine perspective. Read more>>

Nia Ruschxl

Yes, all the time. I consistently identify as The Angel of Death, drawing inspiration and shaping my artistic vision from horror films and Stephen King’s works. My artistic style is characterized by its dark and ominous aesthetic, often eliciting fear from those who encounter my cover arts and posted images. I often hear that my work is frightening or unsettling for viewers, which is always a shocker to me because I truly don’t think that my stuff is THAT scary yet haha. Also, there’s a lot of misconceptions surrounding what I identify as, which is the Angel of death, with many assuming it connotes malevolence. In reality, The Angel of Death works in conjunction with the one true God, and is a symbol of life and transformation. Read more>>

Michelle Marie Esteva

My work in the arts began with warnings. When I was a graduate student, my mom sent me a New York Times article about two women my age who had started their own artist-led collective in Detroit. Inspired by their success—and recognizing how it’s kind of impossible for people to be public with their creativity in the world’s most expensive city—I submitted Chinatown Soup as a conceptual project for a school assignment about placemaking in New York. Read more>>

Kiara Jones

Ever since I was a teenager people have had their own misconceptions or personal assumptions about me because I’m pretty. And I know you’re probably thinking “Um there are worse struggles in the world..” but the thing that really frustrates me is when my beauty is the only thing that people see. I’m a lot more than a “pretty face.” My teachers, teammates, even my so called friends at the time have used that exact statement like a double edged sword against me. Read more>>

Jacob Hacker

I often feel mischaracterized because of how young I look despite being in my mid-thirties. Along with looking young I have a naturally nice demeanor and I feel people underestimate my real potential for leading roles. In college I was actually able to break through the mold of the nice guy and landed the role of Mathew Poncelet in “Dead Man Walking”. It was about a prisoner on death row for some very violent crimes. I remember hearing the comments like ‘you’re too pretty to play Matt” from peers when I would reveal I had aspirations of auditioning for the spring lead. The lead was supposed to be very tatted up and there was an upperclassman who fit the description and had the reputation as the best actor in school. Read more>>

Beth Patterson

Where to begin? Being misunderstood is a hard cycle to break. There are so many ways in which one’s true nature can become distorted through the lens of the world. It can take the form of your intentions (no matter how good they seem in the moment), the way your mind operates, or your reaction to stimuli you find stressful. It can simply be anything your peers deem an anomaly, that lights up the fear centers of their brains. If this sounds familiar, read on. Or at the very least, know that you’re not alone. Read more>>

Jaimie Monger

Yes, I’ve definitely experienced both misunderstanding and mischaracterization, and one of the most significant instances happened during my time in architecture school. I was pursuing my undergraduate degree, and as the only Black student left in the program, I quickly realized that I was being held to a different standard than my peers. There was a persistent scrutiny of my work and behavior that others simply didn’t face. My peers would freely borrow from my ideas, yet I felt increasingly isolated and judged more harshly by professors. Read more>>

Liz Pritchard

Masking is not just for Autistic individuals like myself; any marginalized group can mask or cover up parts of who they are for various reasons to preserve or maintain a status or image. I am diagnosed Autistic with various psychiatric disabilities, a member of the LGBTQIA+ Community, a recovering addict, lover of art and a poet. Trauma and lack of self-love is often the root of insecurities. That’s why the main focus of my works promotes self-acceptance. I think in pictures and expressing emotions with words can be a challenge. I express myself best in the form of original comic books, my series is titled, “PaperBag Comic”. Finding an outlet through art and creating comic books saved my life. Read more>>

Jack Gross

Ever since I arrived in Austin in the fall of 2019 I’ve felt there’s been a constant struggle to represent who I am. I was a reserved and shy 18 year old who assumed everyone around him in film school was far ahead of him. While I went to UT’s (University of Texas) film school with the singular goal of being a filmmaker/director, I soon realized I was a small fish in a large pond – a pond where everyone and their moms wanted to be filmmakers. No longer was it a novelty to want to make films, it was an expectation. Pretty quickly I convinced myself I’d be content just writing scripts, and then even that fell to the wayside, and I found myself setting my sights on film and media studies. I’d tell myself I’m not a filmmaker, I just like watching films, therefore I should be content with simply writing about them. Or, if I may, as Mitski sings in her seminal ‘Class of 2013’ song: “…I’ll leave what I’m chasing…For the other girls to pursue.” Read more>>

Stunnasonly

All the time. It’s just apart of the journey you know? A lot of times especially in the music industry it’s so overcrowded with people that want to start or have already started their own trends and want everyone to follow the social norms. Me though, I just want people to know the real me. To understand where I came from and where I’m trying to go and I think that’s where a lot of times people misunderstand me. I’m not the same as I was 5 seconds ago let alone 5 years. Most of the time when I make music I’m speaking from experience or feeling and it feels like a lot of people just can’t relate so I feel alone a lot of the time but I just keep it pushing I used to not like being alone but I’ve grow to actually value the feeling. Read more>>

Maleek Rae

As a gender queer artist, I constantly navigate other people’s understanding, or often lack thereof, of my identity and the history of folks like me. I’ve found that education around gender frequently blurs with conversations about sexuality, making historical context regarding our queer icons and forefathers feel gatekept—something I’ve most def experienced — I didn’t even learn of James Baldwin until my freshman year of college. During my time in acting conservatory, discussions around expansive identities were often sidelined, as your success often hinges on how others perceive you. To be gender expansive or non-binary, in my personal experience, is hard for people to conceptualize outside of androgyny. This led me to spend a significant part of my early years as an artist choosing to be stealth, hoping to avoid “over complicating” my career. It’s a struggle that many of us face, but I’m determined to change that narrative and create space for us and the next generation of emerging artists. Read more>>