Artist Support Fundraiser

Dear Family and Friends,

Please consider supporting my practice as an artist this summer by donating to this campaign. or purchasing one of these art works   of mine. They have been mustered through creativity and trauma. All in order to survive, be happy, and see you another day! You know my story: “Depressed, Bi-polar, Former High School Dropout WithThree Art Degrees Chases the American Dream of Art and Mental Health, Outside the Academy.” Since It’s becoming more popular now to talk about how you feel, I'm feeling strong enough to ask for your help. I'm really having a tough time right now. 

Your generous and immediately needed  support will directly benefit my livelihood and practice as an artist this summer going towards rent, utilities, and groceries. I am currently incredibly vulnerable and in need of your help. 30 days behind on my rent and unable to travel.  I resigned from my job of three years in June of 2018 and credit-card debt has adversely affected my credit and I can no longer access student loans I relied on heavily to survive. I am asking for any support you can provide. 

I am creating new work, curating, a graduate student and still emerging as an artist. I have two major works in progress. Private Garden on A Vacant Corner, which confronts the pathology of double consciousness in one African-American man through photography, poetry and prose. My other project and Schuylkill Yard and Services an artist-initiated spectrum of creative community placekeeping efforts organized with residents and business owners, whose ultimate aim is to use arts, culture, leisure and education to stop violence before it starts and heal trauma through creativity.

The last book I wrote was a provocative exploration of one black man’s memories of childhood. An autobiography in fragments, Dark Archives aimed to interweave my writing and photographs with pictures from my family archive. Part story, part lyrical investigation, Dark Archives attempted to upset the linguistic and visual constrictions placed on me as a black male. In a powerful combination of image and text the deeply moving meditation on narrative agency, on the family as archive, on being a young black man, and on being Andre Bradley, was a success. The linguistic and visual restrictions referenced,  have lost all power over me. I have more clarity, ability, and energy, than ever before. The world still lacks equity. 

Thank you for your much needed support! 

Andre Bradley