UncategorizedJune 9, 2021

Meet Morgan Harper Nichols

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Harper Nichols.

Hi Morgan, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the Atlanta, Georgia, area where I was homeschooled and had a very creative family. Since I was young, I was always interested in art and storytelling, however I struggled to figure out how to share what I created with others. In my teen and college years, I did enjoy finding internet forums and creating blogs to share my art and stories. Over the years, I have continued to share online and find inspiration in connecting with others and exchanging stories.

In my recently released book, “How Far You Have Come: Musings on Beauty and Courage” it encompasses an illustrated collection of poetry and essays. At times, in the midst of the hurt and the mundane, the questions and the not-yets, we tend to forget just how far we have come. I share my journey to reclaim moments of brokenness, division, and pain and re-envision them as experiences of reconciliation, unity and hope.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
After graduating from college, I worked as an admission counselor at my alma mater. I was writing and making art, but I had no plans of trying to be an artist professionally. However, after a little over a year, my job position was moving to a different part of the state and I didn’t have a “plan B.” This is what launched me into a five-year journey of traveling and doing music with my younger sister, who was just then becoming a full-time musician. As much as I enjoyed making music and working in the music industry, it became very hard to sustain financially. I found myself in a difficult place because I loved what I was doing but I was feeling like a failure. I felt like I left my family down and all of the other people who supported me. It was during this time I wrote a poem about what I was feeling during that time. I uploaded the poem to Pinterest and months later; it had been repinned 100,000 times. This was when I truly began to see how sharing what I was going through with art was a way of creating meaningful connection with others who were experiencing the same thing.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a visual artist, musician, and I write poetry. Coming from a musical family, I started with music first and ended up writing poetry when I realized how much I loved writing lyrics. I started making visual art digitally when I got an iPad and fell in love with playing with digital brushes. It became a new way of expressing poetry and lyrical words. I loved what I was starting to make because it left me feeling like a kid again. In 2017, I started a project where I invited people to share their stories with me via social media or email and I would respond with art. Overnight, I received hundreds of messages and I still respond to stories with art to this day. This taught me the value of making something for one person at a time and that has been my focus ever since.

I’m most proud of how I haven’t given up. When I started writing poetry and making art, I didn’t know where it would lead and I faced a lot of unknowns. Ultimately I stayed curious and I kept trying new things and I try to keep that mindset today.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Not too long ago, I was diagnosed with autism, meaning that I grew up autistic, but I did not know it. The Autism Spectrum has to do with neurology and development and many autistic people face communication and social challenges. This was definitely my story and I struggled to communicate what I was feeling and I also struggled with making friends. I loved to read and write stories and that was a huge focus growing up. My favorite place to go was the library (and still is) and I would often check out 15-20 books at a time. For me, stories and later art was not only an escape for me but a way to learn about how humans relate to one another and also learning something about myself. Even if I was reading purely fictional, fantasy series like Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia, I felt like I was learning a lot about how to be in the world. In many ways, I feel like I am still driven by that same curiosity.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Morgan Harper Nichols

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