Often, those who tread off the beaten path are misunderstood or mischaracterized and so we asked folks from the community to reflect and tell us about the times they’ve been misunderstood or mischaracterized.

Joseph Kattou

It is often that an Artist finds themselves explaining their work, and that often goes double for an artist from a historically underrepresented group in fine arts and education. As a New York Puerto Rican artist I often find myself explaining my work from multiple angles for the average viewer to connect. I often need to educate on the historical references, the cultural nuances and other aspects that are immediately apparent to many of my Latino viewers. Read more>>

Wendy Means

Absolutely, I feel that almost everything about me has been misunderstood in one way or another, and by extension some of my work, but I also find that people with similar experiences really really get my work. One of the things that is frequently misunderstood about me is my physical disabilities. I’ve mentioned repeatedly in interviews that I have Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome which comes with multiple other comorbidities. With my physical situation there are good and bad days, flare ups, so you get a situation where someone who has seen you on one of your better days doesn’t understand how debilitating the symptoms get and how high the pain levels are. Read more>>

Hassan Chammout

Art is subjective and open to different perspectives, that’s something creatives have to grapple and accept. I love seeing when my projects are perceived differently, and how each person comes to a different conclusion and overall synopsis of the messages I’m trying to express. But, there have been many times, even now, where I’m misunderstood and people have the idea that they know me, and they attempt to judge me and my projects, going as far as to call me lazy and talentless. And it comes at no surprise that the ones that have these judgments and thoughts are the ones that have never set a foot in my path and dismiss any hardships I’ve experienced because theirs were “more difficult”. Read more>>

Lisa Perkins

Yes. When I started my band, after two months of rehearsing we had our first performance. Within six months of establishing my band, I had performed for every type of event except a bar mitzvah. With that came a lot of jealousy and resentment towards me from a lot of male musicians. Therefore, I was rumored and mischaracterized as a woman who was doing horrible things to get ahead. Read more>>

Crystal Loverro

As a visually impaired actor with a visible difference (being cross-eyed), I was often made fun of or told I would never get cast because my eyes were “too distracting.” I was cast in a YouTube skit written for me by my good friend, Jason Rosenblatt. In this skit, a dominatrix shows up at the wrong address. In less than a day, we had a million views. Now, we have 8 million and counting! There were thousands of comments making fun of my eyes and my condition. Instead of letting these comments get me down, we decided to call this character the cross-eyed dominatrix and embrace that visible difference. Around this time, I stopped trying to hide my cross-eyes. I started branding myself as a visually impaired actor instead of being ashamed of it. Your differences make you unique and should be highlighted, rather than hidden. Read more>>

Kharyzma Raphael

Yes, I feel like I can be misunderstood as an artist at times.

I am gifted in many areas, and depending on what field I’m working in at the time a person meets me, I realize that they will place me in a box. For example, if a person meets me at a time when I’m focusing on dance training, they will place me in a “dancer box”. Read more>>