Creators: A Photographic Exploration of Voice
Nia Watson
Activist
“I would say that now is the time for reflection. I feel like where we are right now in life everybody kind of wants to look to others, point out their flaws and find fault with them, especially with the trending cancel culture.”
What is your why?
I would have to say my why is the idea that if I do not do something then who will? I asked myself this a lot and I've been asked this a lot in relation to how much I act for the Black Lives Matter movement, women's issues, and any other social activism that I’m involved in. My parents asked me this, people around me asking this - I have to say it's definitely because if I don't then who will in the world that we live in. A lot of people find fault with things around in life and can point out something that's wrong, but when it comes down to it they won't act against it and won't do anything about it. They kind of just say, “Oh, that's how life is supposed to be.” It really isn't how it's supposed to be, though, because if something's wrong and it negatively affects someone else and they are suffering because of it that's not how it's supposed to be. So, if I don't speak out against something bad happening to the person next to me, who will? You know, if I don't write a controversial article about a topic, who will?
If I don't go out to march and protest every weekend, then who will? And if I don't use my voice–because I have a voice and a lot of people do not have a voice–to its full potential, then who will? When we have the ability to do something and we choose not to, then what's the point in really living life if we're not really living it to our best ability? And that doesn't always mean you take these great risks and to put yourself in dangerous situations - sometimes taking the risk is just saying something against the popular opinion, speaking on behalf of the minority and taking those risks. The people who take those risks make it just a little bit better for the person suffering. My why would definitely be if I don't, then who will?
Now is the time for?
I would say that now is the time for reflection. I feel like where we are right now in life everybody kind of wants to look to others, point out their flaws and find fault with them, especially with the trending cancel culture. I personally find it a little bit toxic, but I very much support Call Out Culture - calling someone out for their behavior, maybe their actions, their words. It’s definitely the time for self-reflection. From a religious sense people would say “he who is without sin let them cast the first stone” because we all have things about ourselves that we need to work on before we look at others.
So now is the time to take a step back to really look at ourselves in the mirror and see where we can improve ourselves, and that is not always trying to find fault with ourselves. At the end of the day, looking at ourselves and saying, “Oh, you know this was something that I did that was really good” and rewarding ourselves and appreciating ourselves - both finding things about that we can appreciate and acknowledge as good and then things that we can point out and say “Oh, I can work on that” - is what helps us grow as people, for personal growth that makes us better versions of ourselves for the future.
When did you first sense your power and how has it carried through your life?
When I was younger I was very dependent on others and I had some anxiety issues. I always felt that I needed to surround myself with people in order to feel comfortable and safe and I went through a phase going into high school where I had to cut myself off from people that I had surruonded myself with for a couple years. That time of my life was pretty hard - it was the first time I saw myself as independent, having to think for myself, having to do things for myself and not always feeling that reassurance that there will be people to back and support me. It was hard. It was definitely difficult and I felt sad a lot of time, but it was after that that I realized I'm not always going to have people there for me, there’s not always going to be someone else to depend on and sometimes when you depend on someone it clouds your own judgment you can't make decisions. You can't stand on your own two feet. So, when I had that independence, I really took time for myself to reflect on myself and saw that I'm capable of having my own opinions - it was a huge Revelation for me. After that point I started to really recognize parts of myself that I hadn’t recognized before, a huge reflection phase where I analyzed things I never really got to look at. That's when I really started to get into social justice and started to use my voice more. I got over my fear - because a lot of fears are just shared and come from herd mentality.
Stage fright was always something I thought I had, but it was just that everyone that I had around me had stage fright so I convinced myself I also had stage fright. That's not true at all. I actually love being onstage, I love being in front of cameras, I love making my voice heard. When I started to do those things, there were different people around me, people who supported what I did and people who took part in that as well. I would definitely say the people who I was around before were holding me back - not always directly, though, it was definitely indirect. That's when I found my power because I realized that I'm capable of great things and I just needed a little push to get me away from one situation and into what I was trying to be in - a better situation.