A North Side Story…
*Jae gave permission for her artwork to be used and requested her name be kept the same.*
Jae was a 6th grade student in an afterschool art program at North Junior High, and gave me permission to share this piece of art with you. She created this piece of art entitled “Overwhelming Feelings” by staging a photo of herself, and using oil pastel to inscribe the things people have said to her.
She wrote, “This piece is inspired by how hard it is to open up to people about your feelings until it’s too much to handle. I experienced this a lot in fifth grade from all the nasty rumors being spread about me, but then I found help by finding the right friends. I still deal with the problem of not telling people anything, but it’s gotten better after a few years. I chose this image because there are many younger girls like me that suffer with this problem too.”
What is profound to me about this piece of art is that in her artist statement, her focal point is not on the darkness she has experienced through the brokenness of her peers, but on the light she experienced as she learned to express her experiences and emotions to trusted people.
Jae’s bravery to share the darkness and honesty in depicting the struggles in her story is something that I encounter regularly at North Junior High. I often say that middle schoolers are some of the bravest and most honest people I know. I often feel a mixture of helplessness and awe as I sit and hear the stories of teenagers. Aware of my own inability to change most of the situations, I sit and bear witness to the darkness they are experiencing. And yet I sit there and listen with the awareness that the God of the universe sees them even more clearly than I do. I sit and listen with much hope, because I know the Light. I get to bear witness not only to the darkness that exists, and how wrong those cruel words are, but I also get to bear witness to the light of the world, and the life changing hope that comes from trusting in Him.
Angelina Holte
Campus Life North-Side Coordinator