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Hey, I'm Aysha and when I'm not doom scrolling and being a bed potato, you can catch me at my art studio. Family is important to me as is my community. I am of Oromo (see: East-African) and Turkish heritage. As a diaspora kid being born and raised in so called Australia, my experiences have led me to be a very curious person. Mostly in trying to make sense of the 'Imperialist White-Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchal' structures we live in and try to navigate. Shout-out to bell hooks.
As soon as I broke out of high school, I fell straight into art and community work. My friends and I felt the need to create a space where we could talk about our identity divorced from a colonial lens. Sometimes we collaborated with African and First Nations artists, community leaders and African mental health professionals to create art/history programs, exhibitions and forums to platform our own voices. Black voices.
Along the way I found myself working at my local library where I often saw people my own people needing individual or family support. I knew that working with my own community and doing direct work/support was a better way to for me to stay connected especially while I had so much access to information. I liked the closer engagement in 1-on-1 or small group settings because going to community events with 30824032 families felt too much for little ol' me.
I still run community art programs and workshops every now and then, but I have shifted my focus to studying Therapeutic Arts Practice for the last 3-4 years at MIECAT. It's helped me to understand how we can use the arts and creativity as a way to express and what is there for us in an increasingly chaotic world. Slowing down to find meaning, not just in the complex parts of our lives, but in the ordinary moments too.