Expressing their Identity (with Radical Positivity)

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Image courtesy Alex Scott

The People We Are - Alex Scott

The People We Are - Alex Scott

Alex Scott is a visual artist known for their webcomic “The People We Are.” They grew up in a religious Milwaukee household and had suppressed their identity for much of their life. Now in their mid-30s, they have embarked on a creative odyssey over the last few years to embrace their identity as a nonbinary, queer, Black person, using artistic expression to illustrate their journey of radical positivity and self-actualization. Over the summer they were a featured artist in two magazines, BU Magazine and Blaque/Out Magazine. This past August they relocated to Los Angeles and currently have aspirations to find acting and modeling work while continuing the comic.

First things first; give us a little bit of background about your interest in art growing up. Where do you feel it stemmed from?

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Photo courtesy Alex Scott

Alex Scott

Alex Scott

I always found drawing interesting; I was always enamored with certain shapes, like if I could look at something and the way it contours or its textures and being like “I want to draw that”—this was me at six—I would just draw what I see. I was always an inquisitive child and I had an affinity for my surroundings and for people, and I guess being able to take that into something creative kind of stopped the chaos for me.

Like, when I was younger I knew I was queer but I didn’t know how to express that or put it into words; it was confusing for me but it also wasn’t something I felt I should express, being in a religiously conservative family. I had a lot of feelings I wasn’t allowed to address and so drawing gave me something else to focus on—something imaginative and outlandish. That’s probably why a lot of gay people do art (laughs) because we need to; we couldn’t always express ourselves outwardly so we find our own special way.

That makes sense. It’s an act of resistance, which is a beautiful thing. You find ways to think outside of the box, because the box is oppressive.

How do you feel your identity has influenced your artistry? How are they connected?

Well, me coming to terms with who I was and embracing my identity and sexuality after being suppressed for over thirty years, I look at how far I’ve come and it hasn’t even been five years yet. I’m so happy now, and life is so different. Even if everything in my life stayed the same right now, I would be fine. I already made it when I started this journey.

But I think about other people that maybe haven’t realized some things or young queer children—especially Black and Brown children—I want to give them a message. It’s always been a journey about love and openness. So, I like to draw open spaces and big skies and purple hues and pink and blue, because nothing is off-limits. Everything is where it’s supposed to be. I’m all about the dissolving of your boundaries, with yourself and with your art, and to just see what happens. That’s how we experience variety in life, as much as we can. And every time we tell ourselves “no” we’re hurting ourselves. And in a bigger sense, you’re not benefiting anyone else either when you tell yourself that.

We’re taught to have such a binaried understanding of what is us and what’s not us, and there’s no context outside of that. I think what you said about dissolving boundaries is what allows people to be happiest and be most authentic. You’ll make friends with people that you never would’ve imagined forming friendships with, and the more people you get to know and understand, the more you’re able to make sense of the world.

You become more wise! 

Breaking out of that is indeed a journey.

It very much is. I’m not dissing our parents or anything; that’s not what this is. What we have to think about is the younger kids. People my age—we’ve seen both sides, and when I hear someone older complaining about certain things, I know they have the wrong mentality but I also understand why they say that. When we can alleviate judging, we can look at a person and recognize that they came from a different time, we can come from a more human standpoint.

Right. Instead of writing someone off immediately if they say something closed-minded or problematic, you could say “I see where they’re at” and “I hope I can teach them something.” Because that gives an opportunity to grow and prosper.

Bringing this back to your artwork, tell us more about your webcomic.

Oh my goodness! I didn’t know we’d talk about this but I’m happy (laughs). It used to be called “The People” but recently I thought “The People We Are” had a good ring to it. It’s about me. It’s about my journey. I mean, it’s basically an autobiography and a little bit of a diary. It’s the materialization of how I feel, like if you could see the world through my eyes. It’s about us all being here figuring out how to love each other. I started it as just a cute, fun project but then it just kept growing with a bigger message.

The synopsis is me taking on this journey of shadow work in a very surreal, dreamy, fantastical way. I definitely draw my influences from Rebecca Sugar from Steven Universe, because I was still in the closet when that show came out, and when I watched it I remember it clicked with me like “oh my God, this show’s about queer people.” Steven’s a more gentle boy and he speaks his feelings, and as a little kid I would’ve been so ashamed of my feminine side, because I was the tender little artist that was always crying just like Steven. And I approach the comics’ matter of gender and sexuality so matter-of-fact that it’s not really mentioned. You can just read it and take these characters for what they are because at the end of the day, we all feel these feelings.

I’m planning on including more influences from anime, Black culture, queer culture, space, and the metaphysical. It’s something I want to say before I leave this Earth and I’d like people to understand that it’s never too late to stand up for yourself. You’ll find the people that are going to stay and be there, and it’ll shock you (laughs).

Alex Scott’s “The People We Are” can be viewed here: webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-people-we-are/list?title_no=496356