Today we’d like to introduce you to Rodrigo Duran.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Living with disabilities not only teaches the one living with them how to face the every-day challenges but also gives that person the ability to break the stereotypes. This is my story.
I am 34 years old & I’ve been living with 2 disabilities, therefore twice the challenges. When I was a year old I was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy & at age 10 I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. And although I faced many challenges in my childhood I cannot complain. It was during my childhood that I discovered my love & passion for art. Drawing & painting is the core of who I am as a person. My senior year of high school I was the art editor for the school’s magazine & I got to design the cover. After high school, the first 9 months of college I went to a private art school. After that I finished my art studies in a community college. Some of the best things that happened in this school was that I got to illustrate one of my teacher’s books & design a poster for a dance. I graduated in 2015 with an associates degree in art. But due to the progression of my Muscular Dystrophy I had to stop working & go into Disability. So now the challenge was, how can I still be a useful member of society despite living with disabilities? In 2021 I became an official advocate for the Muscular Dystrophy Association by joining their Ambassadors program. The organization helped connect with society again & find a new purpose in life. Thanks to the MDA I’ve entered art contests, applied for art exhibitions, & have even shared my story in other magazines. Today I share pictures of my artwork on social medias to bring awareness of people living with neuromuscular diseases. My biggest goal/dream is that by sharing my purpose I will one day make it into the art industry & have a career as an artist or painter.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Of course the road was not easy. And it still isn’t. Let’s start with grade school. In school I was bullied for 15 years because of my condition. From being made fun of for the way I walk, to being called names, to being pushed into lockers, into classrooms, you name it I went through it. Still, there was no choice but to keep going forward. But in a way all of that prepared me for what was to come in the future. As an adolescent & eventually as a young adult I got to experience what no support from family or friends felt like. One of my biggest pains was experiencing Christmas/New Year’s & birthdays alone in a hospital bed & no one even bothering in sending a text asking me how I was doing. So how do you heal from all of that? For me, drawing or painting was the only way I knew I would be able to put those moments of sadness & depression behind me. There will still be challenges in the future but having learned from the past I feel ready on how to face them & not be afraid.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve always had a love for art. I’ve been drawing & painting since I was a little boy. And because of my disabilities I joke around saying that I’m the Frida Kahlo of my family. She is my biggest inspiration. Although I love Bob Ross too, I’m not that great with painting landscapes. What I’m best at is painting portraits & cartoons. It was a few years ago that I got out of my comfort zone & started sharing pictures of my artwork on social media. And again, thanks to the MDA’s support they helped me make it a little farther than I imagined. Here’s the example of where I say that disability does not mean inability. Never did I imagine that one day my story as someone with disabilities who loves to draw & paint would be in 2 magazines. Much less, one of my paintings being used as the cover of another magazine! The dream is slowly becoming a reality.
What makes you happy?
Besides the artwork, another thing that gives me great happiness is how I broke stigmas of a person with disabilities. Society portrays us as useless to the community, that others have to do everything for us & therefore we are burdens. And that’s not true. Today I live a more independent life where I’ve been able to do things by myself. For example, my favorite part of my home is the kitchen. Thank you social medias for showing me how to cook! And another stigma broken, having a partner. A boyfriend who accepts me as I am, & more importantly, he’s someone who respects me. This year will be 10 years that we’ve been together. This may sound childish but one of the coolest things about us is how different we are. I am a Latino & he’s from Europe from a small country that speaks Russian. So thanks to him I now speak my 4th language.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/therigogallery/
- Youtube: https://www.facebook.com/Ri8o991/
