Meet BILL _L47

We recently connected with BILL _L47 and have shared our conversation below.

BILL _L47, We are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
Growing up in lower income neighborhoods and an abusive household left me feeling very forgotten when I was younger. My mother passed away at 7 and it crushed me . My father tried to commit suicide after that and was unsuccessful. In doing so he had to serve time both in a mental health ward and jail. He was always an alcoholic and abusive towards everyone in his life , especially my mother and it sat in me so heavily as a child. He gave me to my grandmother when when he returned home and left. I didnt see him often and he didn’t help us in anyway . I felt useless . I felt forgotten. I felt unloved. My grandmother did the best she could but she had her own issues she dealt with . I knew I just wanted to be free . I knew I didn’t feel like I fit in . I thought differently and didn’t feel connected to anyone else really. All my life I knew there was something I was supposed to do . That knowing always kept me wanting to never give up but I held that heavy weight of what my life had already been and it held me down hard. I never wanted to give up though . I knew that wasn’t my journey. It’s when I realized that I couldn’t change the past ,others actions or anything I might have done or experienced . I could only move on and live on my own terms . Live knowing that I was the one that had to make sure I was doing what I loved in order to not feel that everlasting weigh and pain of my early life. I knew the systems we have been raised in weren’t the systems that would feed my heart and passions so I’ve always opted out as much as I had the chance to in order to be free in my heart  . In doing so I became an artist and it opened even more doors to my healing and forgiving.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

As previously discussed my earlier life was filled with nothing but trauma and sadness. It enveloped my entire existence and made me very angry . Over time I saw how It impacted those around me and I knew I needed to do something . As I healed more and more I knew I needed to connect to others so they would know they weren’t alone. I wanted to be able to speak the truth ,about my journey, the state of the world ,about history and anything else i thought would help people know they are seen .
That’s when I became BILL_L47 and started creating mixed media expressionist street art . Originally I showed in galleries and in doing so I quickly came to the conclusion that art was very much not accessible to everyone. The art world was orbiting around class and money . It closed its doors on many people from many walks of life including some of the artists within it.
During this realization is when COVID hit the world and I used that opportunity to hit the streets with my art and make it accessible and free to everyone . I wanted people to see it and feel what I felt and in doing so know.they weren’t alone in their struggles . That they had an ally ,a friend and a brother no matter who they were or what their situation was. My work is created sometimes with pure historical energy ,meaning the energy from my experiences in life . In creating like this it leaves room for a complete energy exchange between myself and whoever is experiencing the work.
Recently I have opened my own etsy ship filled with merch and original art so that the people can get my works directly through me at much cheaper prices than it would be going through a gallery.

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?
Looking back the skills and qualities that most impacted my journey would be truth, honesty and forgiveness for myself and anyone who hurt me. If you are just starting your journey or even in the middle of it and need a reminder this is it. Take the time to unconditionally practice these three things towards yourself and others and make sure you do it with patience. There is nothing that has happened to you that you can change and no one can tell the future, the only place you can be is right here and right now. So take the time to live there and be open to going through your journey . Step with forgiveness and unconditional understanding.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
When I’m feeling overwhelmed in life i make sure I don’t forget where I’ve been. Give yourself credit for everything you have done and take the time to ask yourself why you are really feeling overwhelmed. Are you scared ? Worried ? Feeling alone ? It’s important for you to ask yourself questions in life as well as it can better give you insight into something else that has made you feel that way in life and what you learned from it . You are going to experience these kinds of feeling throughout your entire life and giving yourself the permission to understand them is going to be a huge tool in creating habits and skills to work through them.

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Image Credits
All Images Suppliee by and taken by BILL_L47

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