Hello and welcome to the new Drawing Thanks Vancouver blog! It is a pleasure to have you here. It has been a long while since I shared updates and portraits from the project online. While on Instagram many years ago, I found myself caught in a race to keep posting in order to catch up and share portraits live. Not only was this not conducive to the quality of the storytelling over time, but it also negatively impacted my mental health through the unnecessary and damaging expectations I put on myself. Today, I like to look back on my efforts on Instagram as a good try, but I could not reach the depth and impact I craved in a passive scrolling environment. I also wasn’t taking care of myself the way I should. Writing thank-you notes to share with the portraits has always been a sacred evening exercise in gratitude journalling which I compromised in order to keep up with a self-prescribed schedule.
I plan to do things a little differently around here.
I am choosing to discard linear storytelling moving forward in order to focus on the stories behind the individuals being fully realized and celebrated. Over the coming months, you can expect lots of posts celebrating many creatives and even a few special places. I hope to share these posts in a timely fashion so we can celebrate creativity present while reminiscing on creativity past. For instance, it would bring me immense joy to share the story of a great musician I have met on my journey, right on the brink of a new album release. I want this space to be a platform for community creativity and connection. Maybe I can help readers discover a new favourite performer in the process.
To start things off and to mark this new transition in Drawing Thanks and my own life, I have produced a new self-portrait which represents me today; a me who is in tune with themself, their queerness, their neurodivergency, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their purpose.
Progression of self-portraits from 2018-2024
I am grateful for the time I took to pause and deeply understand myself and I am so excited to move forward with this new level of confidence and security. I hope that is reflected in my writing as well. During my long social media break, I made many new friends who introduced me to the most powerful tool in a writer’s toolkit: plain language. It is my deepest intent to make these stories accessible and welcoming to all. Upon reflecting on my experiences with Instagram, though my intent was pure, I came across much terminology I wouldn’t use in my thank-you notes and general writing anymore. These words include, but are certainly not limited to “crazy” and “insane” as a measurement/metric of “awesomeness.” Little did I know the hurt words like these could cause to people who have had challenging experiences surrounding mental health. If nothing else, I want Drawing Thanks’ digital space to evoke one of safety and inclusion for all.
I have chosen not to delete those old Instagram posts as to erase them would be ignoring growth in action and an opportunity for others to learn from. I am building a safer more inclusive space now and I am doing that with my whole heart.
With gratitude,
Alex