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.

Lorenzo Burorughs

I do feel that both my work and myself as a person have been misunderstood AND mischaracterized since the revealing of my personality on my YouTube channel. I first started my channel as simply a place to share beats I would make and remake of popular songs. Eventually I would put myself on camera to begin teaching lessons on how I made these songs and because I love to interact & engage with those who comment, I would often find myself getting angry and responding to the usual “internet trolls”. Read more>>

Greg Nowachek

Visionary Art is a peculiar genre of expression. It is oftentimes a niche that has been largely associated with the psychedelic creations of more contemporary artists. But while Visionary Art can represent heightened consciousness, usually pursued by those in the counter-culture movement, it is a much broader style that is meant to capture the esoteric, unseen aspects of our reality. This genre is more of an umbrella, a blanket that encapsulates everything from Surrealism to Religious iconography. Anything that represents the divine, subconscious, ethereal, and supernatural falls under the title of being “visionary”. Read more>>

Sephen Shugart

I spent the first 50 years of my life as a writer. I was one of those people who said I can’t draw, therefore I’m not an artist. But I knew I was highly creative, that it was the one thing I was confident of. I also was a person with undiagnosed ADD, with symptoms of dyslexia, which many creatives seem to have, or other similar learning challenges that helps them think and experience the world differently. Read more>>

WRTHL$$

Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been made to feel worthless, hence my artist name being “WRTHL$$” but I never fit in growing up and was constantly bullied I had always been an outcast and felt like I wasn’t ever good enough and that nobody ever understood me, goin through all of this at a young age caused me to always be trying to prove something as I got older and it turned me into a very egotistical being and as I became more self aware that the reason I was acting the way I was was due to unresolved trauma I took time to heal myself and live life differently. Read more>>

K Hard

When I first began creating music, I wanted my music to have a meaning. I wanted it to be real and raw. I started recording in BLKMRKT studios when I was a first-generation student at Western Kentucky university. At this time, I was gaining more knowledge about myself and other user represented minorities. I knewI wanted my music to be for those people. Read more>>

Taylor Brown

As a forward thinking, Independent Artist and woman, I feel my message of feminine power and strong discernment against false people can often times be misconstrued as ‘Man Hate’ or Single-Hood advocacy. I sat down with one of my fellow creatives after they had heard my debut album and during the discussion they had asked me why I was so against men. I understood why my message could be taken that way so I didn’t get defensive. Read more>>

Ratha Sok

As a minority artist, I often feel one or two things. The first is undervalued and the second is being tokenized for the sake of an organization. Being born and raised and Denver I was part of the statistics of delinquent youths in an underrepresented area, specifically the Westwood neighborhood. I ended up getting into the justice system and my parents at the time were not equipped with the education to get me straightened out as most would say. Read more>>

Victoria Blue

For me, growing up as a Afro-Latina has always caused a sort of cultural confusion. When people first meet me or come to one of my shows, they aren’t expecting me to be a Latina, much less sing in Spanish. Its something I’ve constantly had to explain and at the same time take pride in getting to share my story. After all these years, I still can’t believe there isn’t enough awareness about Afro-Latinos and their connection to the Hispanic heritage and culture. Read more>>

Larissa Ramey

As an artist, I can share my differences as a bi-racial black woman and maker. Artwork can evoke a way to challenge both the audience and the creator. The reality of being misunderstood and mischaracterized is a heavy topic in my practice. Daily I explore the lived experience of being othered because of my identity and proximity to how I translate visual culture. An essential part of my process is to gather why I want to be in conversation with others. Read more>>

Theoni Bekiari

Being an actress has definitely brought me my fair share of misunderstandings. From my university years I remember a student from another major asking me “So what are your classes like? Do you guys do faces all day?” But I almost expected things like that from people that are not familiar with acting. What really surprised me, was when I was mischaracterized in a professional set for simply doing my job! I was on a professional set portraying a really fun character, let’s call her Bella. So one of the things about Bella was that she was supposed to have different partners throughout the film. Read more>>

Ellisa Brown

I don’t remember the first story my parents read to me or the first time I opened a book, but as early as I can remember, I have been a sucker for a good story. I remember begging my grandparents to regale me with tales of bygone eras, of struggles and joys long gone. Stories brought me to life. However, early on, I realized the books offered in school and libraries didn’t star characters that looked like me. On the rare occasion they did, they were not the tales of adventures, knights, or humorous animal sidekicks but stories of history or struggle or pain. Read more>>

Nicole Brown

Fashion designers can occasionally be misunderstood based on old narratives. People will say, “My Grandma used to sew. Oh, you’re a designer?! Can you fix this sweater/sew this zipper/let this dress out?” I know how to sew, but a designer’s goal is to envision something new and refreshing, not just to make a tangible object. That’s like asking an interior designer to patch your roof or a wedding planner to bake your wedding cake. We draw up the pretty blueprints, but it is usually someone else’s ministry to execute. Read more>>

Simon Simon

My entire childhood I was characterized as “artsy”. Partially because I loved to create, partially because being a triplet meant fitting inside a neat, tidy box to differentiate one sister from the other. And though I didn’t mind, I began to wonder if I was anything else. It wasn’t until I graduated from Arizona State University as one of only ten Mouer Award recipients, awarded for academic excellence, in the school of art that I realized artists are more than the art they create. They can be poetic and witty and smart and sincere. And I was more than the label they’d stamped on the box they forced me into. Read more>>

Tonio Armani

Yes, because I feel like the industry wants to put you in a box. But The way I feel and what inspires me to make music is more like an open box. it comes from what I experience in life. At times I can be happy, I could be sad, I could be joyful, I could be in pain, thinking about God. I even talk about hate or being angry. these are emotions that you have in your life every day. I put my emotions on paper and put it on Music to share it with other people who can relate . Sometimes people take issue with the fact that I make music that is in more than one genre. You have the choice to like any genre of music that I’ve made. Read more>>

Janet Lackey

I chose the name for my art project, Wokeface, before it was such a charged media trigger word. I was inspired by my own spiritual awakening and looking for a social media moniker to post my art with. That felt like a good name, and I overtime my hobby sprung into a career and brand established under that name. Read more>>