Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.
An ink illustration of a highland calf who is galloping towards the right. This artwork contains an embedded words, “Productivity does not define your worth. Your worth is unconditional.”
About the Art
I created this shortly after my chronic lyme diagnosis and after beginning the first several months of treatment. As my ability to work and be “productive” in ways that are rewarded by capitalism have decreased, I’ve been struggling to disentangle self-worth from ideas of productivity. This is valuable and important and hard. I’m learning to listen to my body more and trust my own emotions. I used to ignore pain, fatigue, and my emotional state to force myself through work. Now if I cry, I know it’s because I’m too tired and I’m reaching meltdown status. I need to stop and rest. Let’s create a world together in which people are valued for their humanity, not their productivity.
Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.
A mule deer is facing left with a small butterfly settled on the deer’s tail. The deer is designed with various zentangles throughout their body and along their ribs, text reads, “I believe you”. There are also some watermarks directing people to Faerie Bear Art on various platforms.
About the Art
I started making this when I attended the Annual National Solving the Campus Sexual Assault & Dating Violence Puzzle Conference (Puzzles for short). The conference had been partly delayed and the schedule derailed due to an unexpected snow storm along the eastern seaboard and I happened to be one of the few people able to attend both days as planned. One of the keynote speakers wasn’t able to arrive until the second day and she ended up kicking off the conference then. I was having a particularly challenging time with my health while attending this conference and was doodling as I listened to the keynote speaker present about solidarity, survivorship, believing and supporting survivors.
I think about the valuing in believing people and what that means often, especially WHO is believed and who isn’t. Whose stories are prioritized and who do those stories serve? For example, what proportion of the stories about people with disabilities actually come from us? And when we do get to share our own stories, how often are we expected to fit within the able-bodied framework of inspiration porn? What happens to the stories that don’t serve dominant frameworks of our value to society or our “quality of life”?
Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.
An ink illustration of a sloth facing the 4th wall while hanging from their hands on a not-drawn branch or pole while their chubby legs dangle below them. Text on their tummy reads, “Slowing down is strength, too. Take rest. Hold space. Flap it out. You deserve your love.” There are also several watermarks on the last photo linking people to other Faerie Bear Art platforms.
About the Art
This sloth resonates deeply with me as a chronically ill autistic person. I need the reminder – and maybe you do, too? – that slowing down is good. It’s not strength to push through and hurt ourselves or exhaust ourselves. Sloths are the queens of Slowing Down and I need more sloth energy in my life, including taking things at my own pace, enjoying my round tummy, and doing things for fun.
Faerie Bear Art is an art adventure by Skye Ashton Kantola (she/they) founded in late 2016. Skye is a fat, white, trans, queer, and intersex, chronically ill autistic person. Skye’s art focuses on trauma healing and uplifting marginalized communities. 10% of all art sales are donated to BreakOUT! Youth, a QTPOC youth lead organization focused on abolition and decriminalization in Louisiana. In some cases, the profits from certain pieces are also split with collaborators.
