“The Art of Hope” by Joel Repic, Executive Director
I walked into the Uncommon Grounds Café on the main street of our city to see Jasmine sitting next to one of our in-residence artists. Kate Gazaway had come from Georgia with some other artists for the summer to hold our first ever summer art camp serving youth from fourth to ninth grade. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights, these dedicated artists led youth in expressing their creative ability through drawing, painting, music, and photography. It was for the last art form that Kate had come to Aliquippa. Kate had travelled over the world with her camera, but she was now spending the summer in Aliquippa teaching our youth to take pictures and build their own portfolios for the end of the summer gallery show. Beside the weekly evening art program, all of our artists took time to do individual art and music lessons with students during the day.

Jasmine was one of the students Kate had spent some time with. Together, they had walked around Aliquippa trying to take pictures of the life surrounding them. Now, Kate and Jasmine were sitting together in the café as Kate showed Jasmine on her computer the pictures that Jasmine had taken a few days before. As I walked in, Kate motioned for me to come take a look at the images on her computer. As Kate scrolled through the images Jasmine had collected with her camera, I was impressed with what I saw. One picture in particular grabbed my attention. It was of an older woman in the community. Her faced looked to be worn with age and a hard life, but she smiled for Jasmine on this particular day. Her wrinkled face against the backdrop of Franklin Avenue created a unique picture that seemed to tell a story—a story of difficulty and joy simultaneously present in our community.

I proceeded to compliment Jasmine on the photo, and she immediately became quite uncomfortable. She covered her face with both hands and refused to look at the picture or respond to our comments. It was as if she was unwilling to face the reality that she had created something good and beautiful.

As the summer progressed, we had the opportunity to get to know Jasmine a little better. For much of her young life, she had been forced to move from residence to residence around our county because of the instability in her own home. She sometimes lived with family and sometimes lived with individuals who were not family. Abuse and mistreatment threatened to define her, and somewhere in her painful and lonely journey she had started to believe that she was bad, worthless, and incapable of anything good. In fact, there were times when she would scream these untruths about herself at Kate and other staff members. Tragically, it was almost as if her place of safety from the harsh world around her was the false things she had come to believe about herself. Often I would see her wandering the streets alone—a young girl feeling no worth and feeling lost.

Now as she came face to face with her own talent, it was almost too much for her to bear. Maybe she never though of herself as talented. Maybe she never thought her own creative abilities were ever worth much. Maybe the Jasmine that now confronted her seemed too strange and new. When Jasmine looked in the mirror before, she saw a worthless person. Now as she looked at her own artwork, she saw a Jasmine that was creative, worth something, and valuable.

Eventually, Jasmine stopped attending the art camp program regularly. It was not that she didn’t like the program—that was very clear. Rather, Jasmine knew that at the program awaited a version of herself that was beautiful and special—and that made her feel intensely uncomfortable. Regardless, her artwork will be on display at the final gallery show at the end of the summer. We have already invited her family, and we are praying that Jasmine will find the courage to show up and see her creative abilities on display in front of the community.

But no matter what happens—one thing is sure. In Jasmine’s first year in our program, she is one of a couple of hundred students that has felt hope. Although the her own pictures on Kate’s computer were hard for her to look at, Jasmine will always remember the encouragement and love she received from Kate. She will always remember the summer she took a small step at seeing herself in a different way. Through the mistreatment she has experienced, she will remember a summer when her worldview of despair was challenged by hope. And someday, as she continues to stay in relationship with our staff and volunteers, this hope will point to a God who is the source of all hope and healing. At Aliquippa Impact, we are creating not only photographs and paintings and music—we are creating channels for God’s hope to reach our community.