Home of BOO! Naptown Purls and The Village

Social Practice Art is about interaction between people–the things created are souvenirs. This great coloring sheet happened because of an interaction I had with a young person during the first BOO! of the season. In spite of their youth, they needed a cane to navigate walking the space. Even though I was curious about the cane, which was covered with stickers, I was afraid to ask about it. This person seemed interested in the knitting and coloring sheets. I decided to see if they would like to take part. There was another young person sitting and coloring already, and as young people do, they asked a direct question.The bluntness of the question initially made me uncomfortable:

“Why are you walking with a cane? You’re young!”

“Because I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and I’m very unsteady on my feet. If I fall I bruise really easily, and I have arthritis because of this too, and it’s hard to walk.”

“You have arthritis?! How old are you?”

“I’m 13. I’m in pain every day and art is how I cope. All the stickers on my cane are things I’ve drawn!”

“What a bummer! You do cool art though. I really like your graffiti”

And with that, they sat down next to each other and commenced drawing. Both at ease, no discomfort displayed by anyone during the entire exchange.

An important lesson taught to me about the gift of direct inquiry–direct words don’t hurt. Tone can hurt, and silence can hurt, but words are good. These two people proceeded to have an interesting conversation about mythology as they sat and drew side by side. Have you had an experience where a simple, difficult-to-ask question created an opportunity for sharing?