Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Rae Duran.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started painting at the age of four. I knew then I wanted to be an artist, but I also had a lot of other dreams, because I was four. My first published work was in an art contest for the Humane Society of San Bernardino. I won second place and they put my art in a magazine. To me that was a sign that I would be an artist one day. But little did I know that it meant that I already was.

I think that many of us don’t realize who we already are. I think that I waited to be told that I was a visual artist. I would say this was true of my journey as a writer too. I won writing contests when I was nine, and published my first newspaper story when I was seventeen or eighteen…I don’t remember the exact age. But, I still didn’t see myself as a writer. The truth is that I also played the cello, and made honor orchestra and all county honor orchestra. But, that was not evidence to me that I bared any talent, because my parents never thought it meant anything. I know I had self esteem issues that developed around home life and abuse. Yes, much of that self-doubt developed from what I was told about myself. I was called or told all sorts of negative things about myself, which are unimportant to who I am now. What is important to who I am is what I believe about myself. Unlearning the stories of what others decided about me was the biggest struggle.

The quest for self discovery was complex, because I thought I already knew who I was. I was sure that I just made art and liked to write long letters. I was sure I disliked poetry, and that I understood what this world needed. I wanted to help people. I wanted to heal people and to be a hero. I was wrong in all of these things. I approached people in a way of wanting, which felt like forcing. I did not witness. I was used to being forced and told who I was, so I essentially repeated the patterns with others and myself. Although, this may not seem like the story of how I became an artist, it is exactly the story of how I became an artist.

I am not famous, genius, or a hero. I am someone who never gives up, who sees that I am imperfect and accepts my flaws. I am vulnerable, emotional, observant, resilient, stubborn, creative, courageous, and buoyant. Some of these things may seem like weaknesses to people, but they are the tools that I have been given, and I use them to the best of my ability. I think that’s really all I can do–use what has been given to me to make the best of my life.

I have started over again multiple times in my life. I have failed more times that I have succeeded. I have been homeless and houseless. I have slept in a motel to get out of a bad living situation, and I have depended on the kindness of others for food. I have also given people a place to sleep and fed them when they were hungry. I started an outreach to help give people essentials for living on the streets, and that grew into an outreach to help disadvantaged youth. I have left abusive relationships and had positive relationships. I have given to women in shelters and supported abused women. I have lost loving relationships and kept loving friends and chosen family. The loving people in my life show up for me and care about me. I have refused self-help books and read a couple self-help books. I have done more than 20 years of therapy. And I have been through at least 10 therapists. Some were around for just the right amount of time and a couple for too long. I learned what I needed to learn, and I am not ashamed for wanting, needing, or asking for help.

Self-discovery helped me to be vulnerable enough to have the courage to put my stories into visual, performative, and written art. My ability to openly discuss my flaws and tell myself the truth about who I am is why I embrace my mistakes, and myself. Perhaps, vulnerability is exposing our wounds, but once I was courageous enough to not care what people said or thought about those wounds, I found that vulnerability was my greatest strength of all. I enjoy when people say they “hate” my art work, because it means it meant something powerful to them. I made them feel things and think things that made them uncomfortable. That is powerful. It is a spiritual experience to witness the strong emotional reactions of another, because of the work you created. And it is almost more powerful than the moment someone sheds tears in agreement with the beauty. To make someone see a different way or break through to understanding injustices and suffering of another, is spiritual. So I am not afraid of their judgment of my work or myself. I already know who I am. And maybe this won’t make me rich with money, but it has made my life abundant with thinkers, doers, and creators. It has reached people I never dreamed of knowing and connected me to long lasting relationships. It has scared away the people who cannot see, hear, or witness. And I am grateful for that.

I am not an artist for the money, but it helps me eat and provides shelter, along with teaching. I live the artists life and meet people who crave creative connection and expression. I teach creative connection and expression. I see how art heals first hand, and witness transformation through the arts. Sometimes I cry from heartbreak and sometimes I cry from joy. But art is a constant reexamination of the self, society, and the artists place within it. If we are incapable of speaking or showing our perspectives and experiences then we will come to a stand still. If I refuse to look at my own flaws then I am denying change and transformation. I am denying how I contribute to this world in both the negative and positive ways. How can you tell a good story if the character is not a fully developed being? If it’s memoir people will call you a liar. If it’s fiction they won’t understand the motivation. If it’s visual art people will say it feels incomplete.

In short; I just keep trying, never give up, embrace my flaws, understand that vulnerability is my greatest strength in the creative process, and don’t hold any expectations of greatness or ability to cause mind altering transformation. And I remind myself to not be afraid of the struggle or of being judged.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Yes, as I said before I was without a house, but I am very fortunate because I have done a lot of community outreach I have met a lot of people like myself who helped me and I was only without a house for a month. I slept in a motel, Air B&B’s, and people’s houses. I’m also very fortunate to have had so much experience with different types of work and education with certifications that I’m kept afloat.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an author who has written a book of poetry titled, “…and So, the Wind was Born,” published by FlowerSong Press, 2021. I have published a few essays and was nominated for Best of the Net for, “How the Crestline Blizzard Taught Me Forgiveness,” published by Women Who Submit, 2023.

I teach yoga, mindfulness, poetry and art workshops for EOPS, NextUp, CalWorks, the CARE Program, and Foster Youth at Chaffey College, and have taught workshops at the University of Redlands, Pitzer College, Ontario TAY Center, Joshua Home: an LGBTQ Youth Safe Haven, juvenile hall, and after school programs in several school districts.

My work can be found in the Her Story Mixed Tape Collection at the Autry Museum of the American West, in LA, and I think is still available online in the Life in Quarantine project, at Stanford University.

I have wrote research on “Sexual Violence and the Assimilation Response of LGBTQ2 Female Identified Latina and Indigenous Americans,” at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, in 2018.

And I am currently the editor of the anthology titled “The White Picket Fence: Stories of Individuality as Rebelliousness,” forthcoming FlowerSong Press. The release date will be updated soon.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
To remain vulnerable and courageous.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.byginaduran.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byginaraeduran/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ginarae.duran?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: https://byginaduran.substack.com/