We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Destin Nordyke. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Destin below.
Destin, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I think everyone is capable of resilience, but so much of mine comes from lived experience. I feel though as a kid you try everything in your might to build up your strength and identity as soon as you graduate high school. Especially now, there’s so much pressure on the youth in our ever-growing and changing world. But this isn’t something that you seek out, it’s a growing list of moments and hardships one goes through.
I grew up in a lower-middle class family, with one working parent whose job was quite unstable. Like many, we certainly faced our share of financial hardships. My mom faced stage three breast cancer when I was just 8 years old, and although I couldn’t fully understand it at the time, this planted the seeds for my strength. Seeing her continue to go to work right after radiation appointments or chemotherapy was a huge show of strength and mind-power. Helping her shave her own head as she was loosing clumps of hair certainly opened my eyes at a young age, and shined a new light on the hardships that weren’t always so obvious in a persons life.
It was also around this time period that I was sexually assaulted. Being born a male, and it happening at such a young age, I was bound to bottle up so many feelings of resentment and anger inside me. It certainly gave me a horrifying reality to confront, as well as a heightened sense of purpose as I began to unravel it many years later. But it was through this unravelling of both myself and concepts of masculinity that I was able to find a new identity for myself. I am 22 years old, and I’m sure I’ll face other struggles both new and old. Ultimately, those thoughts and feelings of resentments towards bad situations in your life will always be there, but it’s what we do in the face of such feelings that truly matters and what allows us to grow as a person.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am currently in the midst of my last semester at Grand Valley State University. So graduating and working on my senior thesis shows are my top priorities at the moment. I am also in the midst of creating my personal website (destinnordyke.com) and creating a professional level graphic design portfolio, as well as a digital gallery of my installation, adornment, sculptural, and multimedia (video/photo) works.
I’m currently working on a series of zines highlighting the revolutionary spirit of the Detroit techno scene, and telling the artist’s stories growing up in the city and in the Metro Detroit area. with electronic music being as popular as ever, it’s increasingly important to remind those of the immense, often overlooked, history in their own backyards.
I also plan on starting an activist based art collective after graduation based in the local community in Metro Detroit, aiming to foster growth for local artists and creatives to create more public facing works of art.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Getting into a routine, time management, and just doing the damn thing are the biggest pieces of advice I could give. As someone with various mental health struggles, anxieties, and ADHD, procrastination is my single worst enemy. I think this is true of many artists as well who face similar challenges and deadlines.
For me, although obvious in retrospect, I started really using my calendar and planners to get some structure to my days, not only putting in events, but filling the gaps in that schedule with dedicated work time to work on said projects or even personal ones. Especially to those entering university under a studio emphasis, give yourself dedicated time to do something creative that is outside of your classwork. It might be hard considering the chaos of college life, but I promise you’ll be thankful you did something for yourself, not because its an assignment given to you. Even if its small or simplistic, just do it!
If there’s ever a moment you find yourself asking “why am I doing this” thats a sign of hesitancy. A very useful thing our brains do in many situations, but not when one is creating. At least for me, I have found much more joy in the process of art making when I am going with my gut instincts, in the zone creatively, and just expressing myself in the rawest form possible. No creative idea is a bad idea per say, but not having any ideas is a fate worse than the most simplistic of ideas.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is that so many of these hurdles and blockages are of those made in your own mind, so tackle them head on, and fuck everybody else!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I would love to, any creative individual and organization that needs a graphic designer or would want to collaborate please reach out!
As someone with roots in my local goth and DIY scenes, I love connecting and talking with others from similar creative backgrounds across the world! I also have been getting into fashion much more recently, being a stylist and model for my university’s fashion club. If you make any form of clothing or adornment, please hit me up and I would love to see your work!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://destinnordyke.com
- Instagram: destin.destin_
- Linkedin: Destin Nordyke
Image Credits
Destin Nordyke
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