When I wouldn't leave home without my blue contacts or when I was bleaching my hair, I didn't have the language to articulate that I was trying to assimilate to whiteness. If anything, I was trying to "look normal." — Vivek Shraya Copy Share Image
I am more likely to get paid for my art if it's presented alongside a white artist, so the questions around value and agency… — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
I used singing as a safety measure. I would pay attention to what songs the popular girls liked, learn those songs from the radio… — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
My intention was never to write a "trans novel" - which is perhaps an effective strategy for writing a trans novel. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
I especially worry about the ways Canadians can be glib about our supposed difference from the US in our "acceptance" of "diversity." — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
My art career often feels less like an art career and more like a career in educating, usually by using my body. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
Children's books have great potential to reveal new possibilities to readers, because the intended audience is at an age of genuine learning. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
I tend to focus less on genre as a starting point and more on idea or intention and let the idea dictate genre. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
Despite the fact that I'm not highly skilled in any visual art, aesthetics have always played a strong role in my art, including my… — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
As a person of color, I know race can't be stripped from admiration or preference. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
It's exciting to consider how art, in its ability to reveal, can be ahead of the artist. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
In my thirties, I have felt a greater urgency to make art that highlights what it feels like to be racialized, likely due to… — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
Should I be collaborating with artists of color solely because of their race and my politics? This question is weighted with my own worry… — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
I think white artists have a responsibility to be not only naming white supremacy, but to be using their power and privilege to support… — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
Writing about racism requires a directness that writing a love story does not. — Vivek Shraya Copy Share
