Artist Statement:I felt that my experience in telling my story was very laidback as I could freely express my own thoughts and emotions.
When listening and viewing my literal voice, I hope other people with a similar situation can hear my works and apply it their own hopefully to the benefit of their lives.
I think it's important for student voices to be heard, especially within an academic institution, because not only have student voices often been suppressed but it gives an example of real world experiences, its not what the school or some institution wants you to see or hear, its the down low of peoples experiences and their lives.
Ben Schoonover:Osiyo! Hello.
I'm a senior at the University of Oregon, and
some realizations I made about myself while discovering my
true identity probably would have to be
the more I've discovered who I am looking into
my past and my heritage, the more I've discovered
really the impact that all that has had.
There's a lot of stuff that I've
ended up doing that I realized later.
My subconscious self was sort of
driving the train, so to speak.
And then the more I've come into my own
into my own being, the more I realized the
impacts that both generational trauma and environment upbringing, the
choices of my parents, their parents have really had.
But it's not all negative.
Realizing these things allows me to deal with them and
move forward, hopefully so I have a better future.
If I have any children, they have a better future.
But also, too, everything in the
past wasn't all necessarily bad either.
I get to realize good things
about myself and my heritage.
Things that have been really helpful.