Come As You Are (but really): raia’s story

This is raia’s (Rebecca Fernandes) story, shared in conversation with Amy Kipp as a part of building knowledge about community care and collective artmaking through the Art in a Just Recovery mural project. raia is a multi-interdisciplinary artist. They “make as they feel compelled to make,” using many different mediums including music, creative coding, visual arts, crafting, and gardening. They are an immigrant who came to Canada in the 90’s. From 2016-2019, they returned to India to make art. This conversation is shared with raia’s permission. 

Amy: I wonder, what does community art mean to you?

raia: I [now] think community art serves a function, where I didn't really know that going into something like Art in a Just Recovery [...]. I walked into Art in a Just Recovery as a personal, “Hey, I need to get back into Guelph” because the pandemic and a bunch of other factors made me just feel not completely myself here [...] reaching out to community art making initiatives has kind of made me feel more myself.

Amy: I’m curious to hear more about what brought you to Art in a Just Recovery specifically. What was your motivation for taking part in it and how did you hear about it?

raia: When Art Not Shame sent an email to folks who had participated in their projects before, I was like, “okay, this one is a bit more involved. The world is opening up and maybe you do sign up for this.” But I came in not that excited in a way. Like it was wintertime. We were required to come to Zoom for 2 hours on a weeknight and, and sit in a room. The first meeting was like 50 people or something! And not all of us know how to use Zoom, including myself. I felt like “oh my gosh, what is the decorum here?” So, I had to be told repeatedly, [...] “you get to participate in this however you want, choose to and can. There is no expectation.” And that's something I don't think I come across anywhere; like in arts particularly there's an energy about it that - at least in a professional sense - you need to almost “pay to play” [...] Part of that is giving more of yourself than any other 9 to 5 [...] a space where your hours are not really yours. [...] So, coming back to seeing like a community arts project [...] with Art Not Shame and the type of messaging they were giving me really resonated. 

Amy: You already started to get into it – but what does a caring space look like [for you]?

raia: I think it is that, like “come as you are”, BUT REALLY. The ‘but really’ is the part that took weeks to understand and still would rear its head of like “no you should do it like this” and you're like, “they said ‘no you can do whatever you want.’” [laughter] So I think that was a key factor but also, [having] food and a carpool - or offering that - telling people, “hey, we're going to put this in a space that doesn't have stairs going towards it.” And all of those kinds of factors that don't seem that important [if you don’t have accessibility issues] [...].

So yeah, I really think that the “come as you are and we’ll take care of you” [...] “and we’ll take care of each other” [idea is important]. It might feel uncomfortable, but that's part of it, where you might have to repeat yourself with regards to “Hey, we want to create a community of care. And repeating that, I think, actually is a key thing too.” 

Amy: I’m really curious, as an artist - someone who has thought a lot about art and the role that art plays in the community – I wonder, what do you see as art’s role in fostering community care? [...] Or what's the intersection between community care and making art with others?

raia: [...] I think something that I felt [...] when I have engaged with community art is there is a strong sense of play, like you're just here to have fun. [...] Oftentimes as an ‘adult,’ you're almost told not to play, or your life revolves around certain other things, like making sure you're nourished and hydrated and bathed [...] I just feel like bringing a bunch of people together and saying, “Hey, play! Have some fun,” it has this positive reinforcement effect [in] the same way coming and gathering for food [does]. I feel like that energy is also available when you're engaging in community art; [community art] brings this energy that you don't necessarily have on your own.