I’m Amy Lang … I’m from a small town outside of Nashville … and right now … I’m a student at SAIC … Growing up in a rural area … it was definitely something … that I could never … considered much … until I was gone … because it just felt like that’s … home … that’s where I’m from … I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking  … I’m from the south … it just felt like this is my house … this is where I’ve grown up … It wasn't really until I was in Chicago that I felt … a little bit of distance between the way people in Tennessee thought … and the way I thought … at the same time I was kind of at odds with the way the people at my school thought … I felt I existed somewhere … in-between this … you know … always politically correct kind of person … and this kind of … more politically ignorant person … I wasn’t quite either one … and I was occupying the space between … It was really frustrating to feel that I didn’t quite belong in either place … I was judged no matter where I went … In Tennessee … even some of my friends thought I was … extremely liberal … to an extreme … and that was before moving here … just because of things … that seemed like common knowledge to me … like when we’re talking about … I can’t believe anyone loves Trump … I had that kind of attitude … and they thought I was a radical feminist … a radical liberal … everything seemed so extreme to them … And then … coming here … I don’t think people really thought I was extremely conservative … but they definitely made assumptions about where I’m from … and it could be really hurtful both ways … When I was young … my house in particular was … even outside of our small town … it was very rural … a lot of our neighbors had farm animals … not full farms … but just like cows … (laughter) … but we didn’t … we lived on two acres of land … had a very sweet … humble … house … and I’ve lived there my whole life … I think when I was really young … I was just … troubled … just like a really troubled kid … kind of scared of everything and didn’t want to go to school … I went to preschool for two years … because I was just not … emotionally ready … I was a crier … still am … (laughter) … The thing is … there was no real reason for that … I don’t feel that I had any defining traumatic events or anything … I just had a hard time growing up … I have an older sister … and my whole family is very into the arts … at least in a hobby way … my sister is studying right now to be a band director … at a state school in Tennessee … and that’s exactly what she’s meant to do … she’s going to be so good at it … she’s just a natural leader … But yeah … I was always more into visual art … I feel I wanted to do other art forms … but it’s kind of … what you take to … initially … when you’re very young … what you’re exposed to … I had … things to paint … when I was young … so of course that felt like what I needed to be doing … and what I got good at really quickly … My mom … she’s a nurse … but she loves art a lot … and … I think … she was supportive of me going to school here … but I think there’s a little strange jealousy between her and me … just because it’s not what she got do … When I talk about certain museums  I go to … she’s like … I’m so jealous … I think she feels like … her mom didn’t let her study what she wanted to study … and now she wants to give me that … but it’s a little tricky for her … My mom grew up in Nashville … and my dad grew up in Minnesota … He was one of ten kids … on a farm there … and … he’s the fifth of ten kids … he was the most … middle child … that a person could be … but … he got out of high school … and he wasn’t really studying anything … he was working at a brickyard … His whole life just ended up revolving around … his siblings at that time … they were all getting into relationships … and going to college … He had … one day … where a sister of his … got in a car crash … which was a frequent thing for her … So … he’d  go rescue her … again … and he was … I’m so done with this … He had a cousin who lived in Tennessee … and he decided … I’m just going to move all the way down there … and I’ll see what happens … and try to start over … and he did … My parents actually met through a dating service … which is really funny to me … They paid these … really pricey memberships … to be a part of this program where they would make videos of themselves answering questions … about … what do you do for a living … what are you looking for through this … You could go to this place … it was called Great Expectations … it must have been the early seventies … maybe the late seventies … You could go to the place … and look through the archives … of the videos and watch them … and if there was a person you are interested in … you could give them a note … or something … through the people that worked there … and you could go on a date with them … and they met through that … and I think that’s so funny … and charming … They really only dated a couple of months before they got engaged … and they got married and have been together ever since … As far as music … I’m really interested in the idea of the music you listen to when you’re young … being really … formative … I remember in the car … on the way to church … I listened to a lot of Everly Brothers … and really old … sappy … corny … sad … country music … I loved the Everly Brothers … My dad was really into bluegrass in particular … Earl Scruggs … My dad plays banjo … he was in a bluegrass band with his brothers back in Minnesota … I think that was also part of the appeal of Tennessee for him … because he wanted to be … closer to that scene … Going to art school … it was a pretty last minute decision for me … I was … a little behind … I was not as well read … or well studied on art … as I could have been … during that time … The way I thought about art then … versus now … is so incredible different … It was really just something that I was good at … that people told me I was good at … I was very into the technical side of art … and getting better in that way … My whole life … growing up … people would tell me that I was good … I think that was truly the catalyst of why I wanted to do it … There was a lot of art that I felt that I didn’t understand … In high school … if you would have asked me who my favorite artist was … I would have just said Andy Warhol … (laughter) … I just didn’t know very much … especially about really contemporary artists … I didn’t realize … if you’re going to be an artist now … you are by default … a contemporary artist … you can’t be a renaissance painter now … So … coming to art school … and learning about contemporary painting … the style of that … I was … almost disappointed for a while … because I wanted so badly to … show … my technical skill … and everything … Art … was doing something for me … when I was proving to people how good I was at it … Now … I feel I’ve made this huge shift to thinking … the point of art is so … “not” … to prove that you’re good at art … that’s all the ego speaking … it’s not the real … heart … of what makes good art … and I just have no interest in … trying to prove myself through it anymore … I see it more as a … some kind of gift … to the world … or something … which is maybe … just as pretentious … (laughter) … to think that anything I make … is a gift … but … it’s all I can give really … to the world … to the future … to history … that’s how I like to think of it … I’m a firm believer in fate … and that there’s always some kind of guiding hand … I feel it very strongly in my own life … and … being able to come here … was one of the biggest moments of that because … looking back … when you’re about a sophomore in high school you start to receive the college ads … asking to apply to their schools … and a lot of times it’s schools that you’ll never get into … the prestigious ones … that just want you to apply … I remember my sister … who is older then me … she was receiving mail from the University of Chicago … there was one pamphlet that … it was an informational booklet … and it folded completely out … to this poster on the other side … that was a picture of the Chicago skyline … and I loved it so much … and I didn’t know why … and I must have been in eighth grade at that point … and I put it up in my room … it made me think of looking out a window … in Chicago … I would imagine that I was in Chicago and I was looking out a window … in my apartment … I had never felt any real pull to Chicago in particular … I think I wanted to live in a city … but … there was no family close by … or anything … and I never really considered it … but as the years went on … it came up more and more … One of my art teachers in high school graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago … I remember … considering it … for the first time … and I was like … “Well I’ll never get there … there’s no way we can afford that” … or if it’s right for me … I was in the process of applying for colleges … and I was being pretty safe about it … I applied and got into Memphis College of Art … which meant I could get in-state tuition … and I was all ready to go … and then it closed down … and they said that they were not taking any new students … and so at the very last minute … it was a scramble … like … what school would take me at this point … it was pretty late … and … I got accepted to SAIC with a really generous scholarship … and was able to go … and it was just … it felt like more then just a lucky occurrence … and … when I moved into my first dorm … which was on State Street … I looked out the window … and I cried … because it looked exactly like the poster I had in my room … that I would sit and imagine … that I was in a apartment in Chicago … it felt like more then a coincidence … What was it like moving to Chicago from my small town? … It was mostly scary … and a big part of that was … everyone in my life told me how dangerous it was to be there … and I was just under the impression that I was … in danger all the time … I remember … getting lost at the end of a day during orientation … for school … we were just left to go back to the dorms by ourselves … it was 9:00 pm … on a Friday night … and I remember having my keys in my knuckles … when I was walking through downtown … like someone was going to try to mug me … (laughter) … and of course they weren’t … It was downtown … it was all tourists … it was so incredible safe … and I just didn’t know that … And … I was intimidated by the people at my school … because a lot of them went to art based high schools … they knew a lot about art … and they were really certain about what they liked and what they wanted to make … and I was not at that point yet … again … I still felt that there was so much art that I didn’t understand … I just thought that performance art was ridiculous … I knew so little … and … the people at my school … were all … so tall … and beautiful … (laughter) … they dressed so well … I just felt really out of place in that way … and as the months went on … I kind of found … people who were similar to me … but also pushed me towards the direction of where I wanted to go … and the kind of artist I wanted to be … I was really lucky in that way … As far as changes in social attitude … I’m definitely more and more aware of that in my life now then I ever was before … to the point where … I’m painfully aware … It’s harder to just live … anymore … I’ve noticed … the ways that I’m treated … being a woman and an artist … even within art school … I think what bothers me so much … it’s not so much that I’m in the middle … between … the rural Tennessee viewpoint … and the SAIC one … I find that both sides are hypocritical in ways that I really do not like … with people at my school … l find that they promote equality and they promote this kind of acceptance of underprivileged people … and marginalized groups … but then they are so brutal to people on the other side … they are so openly hateful of conservatives … and I think there’s kind of … they talk about this systemic homophobia … systemic racism … things that are passed down by the way that we see just see people getting treated … and I don’t think that they realize that they have a lot of systemic classism … they don’t seem aware of their own prejudices … and their own faults … at all … they think that they’re … right … all the time … and they’re so settled in their ways … in the exact way that they’re critiquing other people of being … “Oh … Conservatives are not changing their ideas” … but … they’re not either … there’s no consideration of the other side … and I think that’s really important … and completely lacking in a lot of people I know … It’s kind of  a hot take still … It’s kind of something that I don’t get a lot of agreement on … but something I hope to promote through my work … and through the way I exist in the world … is just like a universal love and acceptance of people … truly … regardless of … if you see them as bad people … if they do bad things even … I think to be human is enough … and deserve acceptance … and respect … and being listened to … As far as how those views effect my art … I think I’m still figuring it out … It felt especially important at the beginning of the semester … and I was in an exhibition at the Hairpin Art Center … that was just … twenty Chicago artists … under the age of twenty … It was a young peoples exhibition … but the subject matter was completely open … and we made all new work for the show … and I felt so moved to make something about this … and I took those ideas that that I just described to you … along with ideas about religion … because I think there’s a lot of hypocrisy in religion too … and that a lot of teachings … at their core … in religion … have to do with that kind of universal love … but they get so twisted … and it’s … obsolete now … almost … it’s so accepted to hate people … I felt so moved to make work about that … so I combined … forms of religious propaganda … with this idea of loving everyone regardless of what they do … I made these little pamphlet books … that were … in the form of books I’ve received on State Street … I’ll receive little books that say … “God loves you” … or … “ Heaven is waiting for you” … Those books are so interesting to me because they’re … really sincere … the people giving them have such good intentions … but they’re so preachy … and sometimes really poorly written … and sometimes really funny to look at … and I wrote something in the form of that … where it was a little … very preachy … and a little bit dramatic … I wrote about … what I believe … to be … the right way to live … or however you want to put it … and put it in these books … and kind of took all the religious baggage out of it … because I believe people are bothered by that … and I had them in the gallery … Sometimes I give them out to people on the street … and I give them out to a lot of people I know … and it’s not always well received … when people think … that … I think that people are just looking for some way … for artists to be wrong … sometimes … I’m not so interested in people trying to disprove people … all the time … and that seems to be a big part of the attitude of the people at my school … I get accused of having a savior complex … That’s the one I hear all the time … thinking that I’m trying to save the world … But … I don’t see anything wrong with that … I think I’m aware … that I can’t … do it (laughter) … but these very sincere attempts where I’m just trying to … spread some kind of a message … I mean no harm … and I try to do it with awareness to … that … yeah … it’s easy for me to think … that I should love everyone … because I’ve not experienced a whole lot of … hatred in my life … It’s easy for me to do this because I don’t have all this built up anger … that … less privileged people might have … against the world … I’m interested in pursuing these ideas further … but it’s hard to find a way to go about it that is direct … I think art making itself is peaceful … and yet radical … act … that kind of coincide with these ideas anyway … but to make work about it … is a little bit tricky … I’m still … figuring that out … As far as social media … I’m mainly on Instagram … but I don’t use it a ton … I’ve only recently started to share my art on there … but it dose make me a little nervous … because then it’s so out in the world … its like anyone can screenshot it and take it as there own … and I’ve had that happen before … I was scrolling on my feed … and then there’s my painting … that somebody had taken a screen shot of … I DM’d them … “This is my painting … can you either tag me or take it down” … and there was no reply … and I was looking for ways to report it … and really … when you read the fine print on Instagram … people can just kind of take your photos … there’s really no … rules … against that … unless you’re in the picture … but as far as art … it’s risky … I don’t feel great about that part of it … I think I’m resistant to social media in general … just because it’s so … gross … in some ways … and it feels so silly … and it feels like something I don’t want to be a part of … but it can also be really fun … and … I don’t know … I feel like I use it … sparingly … I was on facebook when I was younger … but I don’t use it a lot anymore … I remember you saying earlier … that there’s so many talented artists now … I think it’s just now we know more about all the talented artists … because they have this … free way to share their work … and you see it all the time … It’s easier for anyone to be an artist … and it makes it harder … because there are so many … And I also think that social media lends itself to a certain kind of art … a certain kind of trendiness in art … that isn’t the way my art looks … especially in really contemporary … strange … paintings … I might post it … and it might be something that I’m really proud of … but I don’t know if Instagram is going to understand it … or if they’re going to get it … You know … I had a great critique with it in class … but I don’t know if it’s going to translate to a being seen on a phone screen … I think it influences the kind of work people make … in a way … that’s not always … beneficial … I would hate for my work to be … changed … subconsciously … because I’m thinking about how I’m going to post it on Instagram … and how many people are going to see it … but I could really see that happening … What do I see happening in the near future? … I think … I feel … building momentum in my life … right now … and I’m not quite sure towards what … but … it feels like … things are really starting to pick up … I’m starting to meet the right people … and do more things … with art … Meeting people outside of my school too … has been really … important for me … A year ago … I would not have come here and done this … (laughter) … It wouldn’t have happened … I just feel like I’m growing a lot … And even the trip to New York … what a dream come true … that was just such a wonderful trip … The universe is kind of conspiring for me right now … I feel really lucky … and really grateful for the way that things are going … I can’t quite describe it … but big things are coming for me … with art … with writing … and potentially with music … and with the people I’m meeting … and with the attention I’m getting at school … and outside of school … I just feel tremendously hopeful … whether that’s founded in reality or not … I just really feel some kind of momentum … that’s the only way I can really describe it …