((PKG)) IMPACT ARTIST
((TRT: 07:20))
((Topic Banner: Impact Artist))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Zdenko Novacki))
((Additional Camera: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((Sub characters: 0 female; 0 male))
((Blurb:
Aida Murad, diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis at 20, turned to art as a means of healing. Today, she helps others on their healing journey, using her creations to transform the lives of those she touches. .))
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
Mental health is really important to me. And the intersection of mental health and art is extremely powerful and important. So I always say that art is not meant to be a luxury. Art is a critical tool for all of us to help us with our inner and our outer lives. Art helps us foster this, this contained emotions,
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not just foster them, but help whatever needs to come out, come out,
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because our body stores emotions, stores memories. ((NATS/MUSIC))
Through art, I process my emotions. I connect through the beyond.
It's a form of meditation. It is a form of enjoyment. It is a form of self-love. It is a freeing experience.
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
I remember the first day I painted, which was in 2014. And I painted that day because of two really sad news. One is, doctors said I’ll likely never use my hands again because I was having bone erosion, which I have now in this hand, though, which means that they're, they’re just permanently damaged. And they said at the rate that you're, the damage is happening, you'll likely never use your hands again. And at the same time, I was applying for jobs and people asked me, “Why should we hire you?” And I didn't have, again, the mental health language to say I am depressed. I just said, “I have no idea why you should hire me” because I genuinely thought, “I don't know what's special about me. I have no idea.” And again, I didn't know I was depressed at the time. So, after I left that interview, and with the news from the doctor, I was just like, “I have a unique fingerprint.” Like, “God, show me what is unique about me. There must be a reason why I'm here.” So, I just ended up going to the art store. And you know when you just walk somewhere, you don't really realize what you're doing. You're just somehow there. So I buy paint and I just repeat. I think for hours, just painting with my finger, trying to figure out, “Maybe if I keep repeating this, I will understand why I’m here.”
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
I always say, arthritis and that period was the worst but best part of my life. And I had it for about four and a half years. It came in two episodes.
So I identify myself as an Arab American, and
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I'm so proud to hold both cultures
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in my way of being today.
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
There are a lot of hard times in this process of being an artist. And even just living in this modern world, there's a lot that's hard.
But I would say, if I were to focus on the artist’s narrative, the hardest part was my mentality,
which was switching from the societal narratives that have been imprinted on us, which are: You have to be a starving artist. That if you are an artist, you will likely make little to no money. Or, if you are to be an artist, like they show this in film a lot, that you will create your best work when you are on substances or when you're depressed. And again, I've been through depression. I didn't want to go there again. I don't believe in substances. So, I didn't want to be any of these. I didn't want to be a starving artist, I didn't want to be an artist on substances, and I didn't want to be depressed. So, I was like, “How else can I be an artist?
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What, is there another way?” So just to even reprogram that, it took a lot of breaking down
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and community to help me say, show me that, “Hey, Aida, you can do art and you can be thriving.”
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
So I'm the first artist in residence at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Ah, part of my experience there, I would tell you a story that really stuck with me. So, after I installed all the paintings in the waiting room, I was just sitting there and watching the patients. And then, I met Sandra, who is a cancer patient there. And she just said, “Hey, are you the artist?” I said, “Yes”. And she's like, “I chose to sit next to this green one.” She's like, “It helps me feel calm.” And that sentence is everything. And then she proceeded to tell me about how difficult her journey has been. And when we dove into the art, she was just like the, “It's these small things that are actually not small.” Because they're smaller, you can design the experience to have people, I don't want to say look forward to coming, right? Because no one looks forward to, or at least I don't look forward to going to the doctors. But, this is where the arts comes in, to help ease the process and make it a bit more enjoyable and calming.
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
I've helped people, who are going through deep depression, just paint with their bodies in my studio, to let it out. Because there are not enough safe spaces in this world that allow you to process the things that you try to shove in deep down inside because you're ashamed of them. So I actually say, “Come. Come with your anger. Come with your fear, and let's lay it out. Let's have a conversation with it.” Because only after you can have a dialogue with it, can there be space for joy to come in.
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That's why I call myself ‘an impact artist.’
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((Aida Murad
Spiritual Artist))
Because art for me is not just a beautiful object. It is a tool for us to transform our inner and outer lives. And it is a tool to help you feel seen, heard, and loved. I mean, how can you put words to something that helps you connect with your deepest desire, or your deepest love, or feel understood?
It's these indescribable, non-verbal things that really, I would say, keep us going.
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