My name is Antonya Velo and I am a student at UMKC. We were asked to interview someone different than us; someone who has experienced some sort of discrimination. Whether it was because of their gender, sex, race, ethnicity, or sexuality, it didn’t matter.
I interviewed a friend of mine named is Adrian Cisneros. He is discriminated against because he is Hispanic and identifies as genderfluid and gay. During our interview, I learned a lot more about him and the struggles he faces. There were two things he said during our interview that really stuck out to me. When I asked him what his biggest challenge today was, his response was
“If I don’t express who I really am, I lose myself.”
Adrian Cisneros (08:20)
When I asked if there was ever a time he wished he could change who he was, he said that there have been many times he wished he could change. But the main reason why is because of how others look at him.
“They see someone who I don’t see as myself.”
Adrian C. (05:24)
If he puts on this “heteronormative” mask he’s not being himself. This opened my eyes. We all have masks. We have different personas we put out for the world to see. We only let people see what we want them to see.
Although I am a Psych Major, I have always enjoyed art. Creating art is a way to express how you are feeling without using words. I was inspired to create a piece that would summarize what I got out of the interview. I decided to make a piece that would showcase how you should be yourself. Once you do this, the world is so much brighter. I call this piece “unmasked.”
For further explanation, I titled this “unmasked” because the idea of wearing a mask, or hiding who you truly are, was a repetitive topic during Adrian’s interview. On the right side of the piece, I sketched a simple face without any color or dimension to signify how “bland” or “unhappy” life would be while wearing these masks and hiding who you are. On the left side of the piece, I used acrylic paint to create a fun, messy, carefree rainbow to represent how free life can be if you take off these masks and just be you. I chose to paint a rainbow because it symbolizes being part of the LGBT+ community.
As stated before, I chose to interview my friend Adrian because I know he struggles everyday with discrimination. It’s not physical discrimination, but it is verbal and passive. What I mean by this is that people give him strange looks and whisper to one another. He also explained that he never knows how people will react towards him (06:46). All he wants is to be himself, without people judging him. This reminded me of the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman. The characters in this graphic novel wanted to hide their identities to keep themselves safe. They need to hide, or wear masks, in order not to lose themselves. However, Adrian wants his identities to be seen. Adrian needs to show himself, or take off that “heteronormative” mask, in order not to lose himself.
Overall, this was an eye opening experience. Today’s society has become more open minded and accepting. However, there is still so much more work that needs to be done for true equality.
In the blog post “Taking Off Your Mask,” Antonya Velo discusses how Adrian, her interviewee, is discriminated against everyday because of their sexual orientation and identity. Adrian identifies as gender-fluid and gay, Antonya created an art piece that represents what Adrian has been through. A recurring topic throughout the blog post was how “everyone wears masks.” Whether if it’s to hide who you are to please others or if it’s to hide who you are to protect yourself. Personally, I agree with this statement. As Antonya states, “We have different personas we put out for the world to see.” Everyone, in some form or another, wears a mask. This occurred during the Holocaust and still happens today. During the Holocaust, Jews had to hide who they were in order to save themselves. Whereas Adrian refuses to wear any masks, they just want to be themselves. I find myself wearing a mask at times as well. I try to fit in with today’s society, but I realize that being yourself is what is truly important. As you can see, there are negative and positive effects of “wearing a mask.” It is up to you to decide what you want the world to see of you.
As I began to look at many of my peers art, there was one which stuck out to me. There was a work of art created by Antonya I Velo which I found profoundly beautiful. She really captured the most important points within her interview. The issues she spoke on concerned the acceptance of different races as well as sexual preference. Her interview partner is greeted with discrimination every day. She includes that their discriminatory behavior is shown subtly when, “…people give him strange looks and whisper to one another.”(Velo) This is an issue because there are now so many people like Adrian who are ethnic as well as gay and gender fluid. If we, as a society, are going to continue to thrive and expand, we must work on including those who have certain skills no matter what their gender identity and ethnicity. If someone were to be gay or trans, but were able to type computer code like a computer wizard, or lead a team amazingly, we should always let them use their skills without a second thought. There is also the issue of human emotion. In theory, a human being will not be successful without support and affirmation. Now, though many people still succeed without those important things, it is still key to most human beings success. So since so many in our world are now coming out as LGBTQIA it is important that we do not stunt their growth and success rate.