Angel Esturban 

I am just a Guatemalan, Dominican kid from Boston who was shy. Growing up was hard .. I’m talking about not knowing my mother for first 6 years of my life.

Being lead poisoned and having brain damage was a always a challenge for me. I was always afraid of being who I am, of just living free. I grew up in Jamaica Plain, Franklin Field and South Boston’s D St. projects. Moving was always difficult. You know, the feeling of meeting new ppl and leaving your friends behind for a new life. I never understood the reason why my mother moved around so much, but it was because she was poor and couldn’t afford rent. That’s where the system I call DSS came into our lives. Being separated never crossed my mind, it was more like a break from my mother, brother and sisters, but I knew something wasn’t right. Why we couldn’t go back after that first week and switching schools was just confusin until I was 8 and figured out the meaning behind not being home with mom and siblings. I understood I was in a foster home. It didn’t seem much like foster home since it was my aunt that took me in, instead of some random non family member. I was comfortable with the idea but still didn’t know why I couldn’t go home. Later I find out my mother couldn’t afford paying rent because my father basically ran off , and made his own new family; plus she couldn’t speak English, so it was hard for her to get a job

In September 2002 my dad passed away. I was only 6 years old 2 weeks away from my birthday. We had things planned but I guess life is just full of mysteries.. After that I always had a black cloud over my head knowing my dad was gone and a fat kid and not living with my mom messed me up, made me want to always be on my own . My godparents used too buy a lot clothes instead of toys so that’s when I knew I had a thing for styles and clothing. To me it was more fun getting my first polo shirt and Levi jeans also a fubu and hilfger track suits than opening a new power ranger toy on Christmas.. My passion for fashion was there from the start; watching rap music videos and pop videos; trying to mix the styles together all in one but I was afraid of showing my ideas because I was already getting bullied and didn’t want to make myself look like a freak more than I already was. Finically I didn’t have the money to get the clothes I wanted but that all changed when I was 13 years old. I was back in Southie selling drugs and getting high so I had an advantage to buy new clothes which I did. At the time, 2007, I was in middle school . That’s when my love for fashion opened up even more I was more free and was able to get the clothes I needed. I was wearing skinny jeans and got backlash for it ppl used to call me gay and other bad names I will not say. It was painful and made me depressed and angry as well. I continued to wear more skinny jeans and show off my amazing outfits to the world I was finally freee!

I started to get in trouble and wanted to stay out of trouble. My second oldest sister told me about a program more like my sanctuary. Medicine Wheel brought me to a world I never thought I would imagine coming across such as amazing ppl !!, made my heart full with love and warmth . The energy was already there at MWP . Michael made me realize there is so much more to life then just living it . He taught me how to be me, how to be free, how to be the person I always hid . After leaving MWP, I Continued with my fashion, making clothes and also art . I feel like I need to reach out to others and talk more about myself in person so ppl can understand where I’m coming from. Basically there is a lot of stuff missing but I want to tell my story; on my clothing and art not to tell it ... peace and love is what we need !

from your Angel to another

We are an artist founded and artist run organization. Supporting and collaborating with artists of all disciplines and maintaining the role of artists as facilitators in culture, is central to our work. We use  the power of making art to triage critical needs of the communities we serve that are confronting addiction, immigration, systemic racism, police youth relationships, stewardship of our natural world, HIV/AIDS and/or human trafficking. Our work is to seek focus, fairness, and balance. Our goal is to continue to use art and the act of creating together to define a brave new normal and shape a shared future history where each of us has a voice, where each of us is included, where each of us is listened to, where each of us is loved