Alisha Rae
Self Care, May 2016, risograph print, 8.5x 11
How did you get into debt?
Student Loans at Florida State University. Adding $15000 of accrued interest since graduating.
I also claimed Bankruptcy in 2011 to get rid of 60,000 of debt accrued over 12 years.
Friendship Breakup, April 2016, Watecolor, Bristol, 8.5x11
How does your economic reality effect your art?
Finding time to make the work that I want to make has been very difficult. Working a wage job in the food service industry is exhausting and does not physically enable me to make what I want to make. In some ways my economic reality enriches my art. Not having the finances to accrue materials and resources makes for a richer art making experience. Example: I went to comics school last year and the school's tuition was very affordable for me. They do not have a lot of financial resources so the experience was richer because they worked with what they have. Sometimes I was disappointed, most of the time I learned a lot and homed my practice.
Experiences like this are important to my practice and my well being.
Seond Line Sundays, March 2016, Watercolor, Bristol, 8.5x11
Would your work look different if you weren't in debt?:
Since claiming bankruptcy, my work doesn't look any different because they are all in forbearance currently. Not sure what the future holds, take it one day at a time.
Baton Rouge Alton Sterling Protests 7-10-16 , August 2016, Ink and Bristol, 8.5x11
www.alisharae.com