Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Rivera.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born and raised in Orlando, FL. I’ve spent the majority of my life living in West Orlando. West Orlando is known for some rough neighborhoods and schools, especially when I was growing up through my adolescent stages in life. Growing up, I didn’t necessarily have the best examples when it came to expressing love, friendship, or even emotions properly. My mother was probably the only true positive influence in my life, although, we still don’t always see eye to eye on most topics. My father and my mother were divorced before I even got the chance to see double digits. He was always financially providing for us, but I still feel as if pieces of love, affection, and attention were missing. I grew up in a home with a single mother and four siblings. Despite the amount of people living in my home, I still felt alone in most aspects of my life. My mother had to work, and she was going through everything she was going through with my dad. My older brothers didn’t have an established relationship with their fathers, either. I spent most of my younger stages of life learning from them, and my peers. My younger sister spent time being watched by my grandparents across the street from us, but they usually let us live in pandemonium at our own home while my mother was away. We spent a lot of time alone. Arguing, fighting, finding shenanigans to fill certain voids. I picked up smoking at a young age. I always told myself I would never use substances, but when the end of my middle school career came along, I felt curious, and the feeling uplifted me for the moment. To this day, I still struggle with coping improperly through the use of drugs or even alcohol. I’ve just recently become more in tune with my emotions by digging deep and become slightly more aware with them. With art, whether it be visual arts, music, or poetry, I’ve found ways to escape my mind and uplift myself in a more positive way in between the use of substances. I hope to continue to push through and become more aware of myself in order to find healthier coping mechanisms through artistic expression,
Please tell us about your art.
I would consider myself a visual artist by trade, but I enjoy expressing myself through different outlets whether it be photography, videography, guitar playing, spoken word, etc. I do what I do because it comes from the heart most of the time. There are times where I struggle with being in my head too much and it shows through my actions. I wish to keep my intentions pure, even if I do stray from time to time. If it’s from the heart, my message usually portrays situations I’ve experienced growing up or currently. I also am quite fond of telling other people’s stories, and I wish to do that more often in order to help others express themselves in ways they didn’t think they could.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
You shouldn’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks when it comes to your own personal work. Don’t let anyone skew what you feel. You feel what you feel, and no one can take that away from you. Interpersonal connection trumps social media/online connection any day. Go connect with people heart to heart, not page to page, not by likes, not by repost, not by stories, tagging, hashtags, etc. that shit doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day. You will forever be trying to fill a void. People are phony. Especially through social media, you just never know. You can’t feel through a screen as much as you can feel someone in person. Don’t compare yourself either. Be you, unapologetically. What others think about you is none of your business. Create. Don’t rush. But commit to yourself wholeheartedly, the rest will follow.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
https://statisticsproduc.myportfolio.com/ my photography portfolio.
IG: @statisticproductions (business)
@joel_rivera_96 (personal)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://statisticsproduc.myportfolio.com/
- Email: statisticsproduction@gmail.com
- Instagram: statisticproductions or joel_rivera_96
Image Credit:
Broken/Beautiful (broken mirror concept) Noemy Esther (@noemyesther)
No id(ea) (flowers and hair in face concept) Thea Dakila (@tay_dakilla)
Photo of me taken by Thea Dakila
Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
