“I don’t know what it is to be present. I can’t shake this feeling of wanting to be somewhere else...of wanting."
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Briana Lynn (Bri), 26, is an artist working with language. Below she shares her greatest accomplishments to date, her biggest BLEM/SH, and how she managed to turn the very thing that tried to block her blessings into a stepping stone for success instead.
“I write poetry that you have to use your body to read. Or poetry in the shape of the thing I’m talking about. I was a dancer for a really long time and a writer. I moved to NYC for both dance and writing, but was really unhappy in either space. At the same time I was learning about inter-sectionality; about being a woman, a woman of color, a dancer, a writer, etc. and thinking about how all these identities interacted with one another. That definitely leaked into my practice"
"I was working on some poems that felt incomplete, and decided to incorporate movement and body and shape. That’s when I felt satisfied with what I was making, an “a-ha” moment I guess. This “choreographed” language or three-dimensional poetry felt the most true to myself.” “My greatest accomplishment so far is having chosen this art practice. It felt like the first time I’d made a completely autonomous choice. It was definitely the first time I felt resolve. I don’t know that I believe in certainty—certainty has always meant 'doubtless' to me, and I've never been doubtless. But I chose this despite my doubts and learned what it feels like to know what I want”
Rewind “I don’t know what it is to be present. I can’t shake this feeling of wanting to be somewhere else...of wanting. I believed for a long time that the woman I wish I was exists somewhere beyond this time and place. I’m trying to un-believe that, to acknowledge the woman that I am and the moment I'm in.”
Fast Forward - Get Inspired
A word of encouragement for anyone pursuing art? “Study. Research, practice and craftsmanship are so necessary despite our culture of instant gratification.”