Not Real Art

“My art has become my way to play,” says photographer Y Hope Osborn, who “never had any art education” but grew up with a camera in her hand. In today’s podcast episode, the 2022 NOT REAL ART grant winner sits down with our host, Scott “Sourdough” Power, to talk about the healing power of art, writing, and play. “As a child, I was so stifled by abuse that I didn’t know how to play,” Hope says. “I didn’t know how to be a child. You’d put these toys in front of me and I’m like, ‘They’re just things, I’m supposed to do what with them?’ And it didn’t make any sense or mean anything in my world.”Hope, an Arkansas-based writer and self-taught photographer, describes her art as a form of play, an outpouring of expression, and a tool to transcend the trauma she experienced as a child: “Now I have this freedom,” she says, “even in bad health and in still dealing with trauma and everything, I have this freedom to be creative and play in my art. Whether it's in my digital, abstract art or in finding a creative pers