My Trip to Changing the Narrative Through Cartooning

      I entered the Native American Student Community Center early afternoon. I don't visit often but I often recognize its roof whenever I'm getting food at Victor's Dining Hall or Chipoltle. I'll admit that I did step up to the quiet building with a little trepidation. The exhibit I was here to see was on a topic that like most people, I'd been guilty of looking away from. Homelessness isn't a happy subject, and here I was to see a gallery of comics created by Portland State Students who had at some point in their lives experienced homelessness. Was I about to walk into this lovely building all happy and cheery and walk out incredibly depressed? 

I didn't know, but the following day I was scheduled to talk to Dr. Kacy McKinney, a professor of Community Development, Visual Artist, and Feminist Geographer (didn't know that last one so I know what rabbit hole I'm going down next), who was one of the lead researchers that helped make this exhibit. I didn't want to finally meet her without doing my homework, so I opened the door and stepped into a large empty room. Four pillars stood around the room's center, each guarded by a small intricately cut wooden statue. Flags of the various Oregan-based tribes hung down from the ceiling. Hanging along the right and left walls, in a somewhat unassuming way were the comics I'd come to see. 

    I was struck by how little space they took. I wasn't expecting them to crowd the room but I wondered how many people had come through this area and not even noticed them. I stepped forward and began reading the first comic, then the next one, and the next, and so on until I'd ended at the Native American Student Community Center. Literally, the last comic I looked at ended with a shot of NASCC. I later learned that this was completely intentional. I'd first found out about this exhibit through the Comic Studies program. I'd been casually following its progress through the newsletter and when I saw that it was finally on display I decided to see what the end result was.

    The stories were sad, but towards the middle, I felt more frustrated than depressed. Most of the stories seemed to end on a somewhat positive note, there was a tragedy but the narrators all seemed to end up in a better place than they were before. I started questioning if this is what the exhibit was about. Did Changing the Narrative means a happy ending for homelessness? I was skeptical of such an idea, it felt too much like the "have faith, and work hard," solution to the issue. Which I found to be unsatisfying and ineffective, besides none of the stories depicted their subjects as having not worked hard enough, most were victims of circumstances. When I asked Dr. McKinney about this, she made it clear that ending on a "happy ending," was not what I should be taking away from this exhibit. Many of the comic creators expressed a strong desire to not have their stories be of resilience. Resilience is not the problem, it's injustice and systems that make it okay for people to lose their homes.

    I left the exhibit deciding that I would describe it as "bitter-sweet" even though that didn't feel like the right word to describe my feelings. After talking with Dr. McKinney I think I had it right from the beginning. The comics are beautiful and well worth a look but I left the museum feeling "frustrated," which feels much better.

https://kpsu.org/in-the-gutter-with-cameron-grow/in-the-gutter-12-dr-kacy-mckinney/