Art as Healing: A former client’s inspiring journey
By Loree Bishop, CSE – Prevention Coordinator
Spartanburg native Melvin Nesbitt Jr. is a professional artist whose vibrant collages explore themes of race, poverty, and the Black American Experience. He credits Piedmont Care with giving him his first public art commission, and his work was featured in Piedmont Care’s book, Hidden Voices: Reflections from an Affected Community. Nesbitt wanted to express his gratitude to Piedmont Care and offer hope and encouragement to others living with HIV by sharing more about his journey. See what he had to say about living and thriving with HIV and how Piedmont Care helped him realize his life’s purpose of becoming an artist.
Bishop: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your connection to Piedmont Care?
Nesbitt: They really got me started off for the proper path. And, you know, it was a scary time because a lot of the people that I knew who were HIV positive were quickly developing AIDS and getting sick, really fast. But I was less afraid after working with Carol (Carol Barry – his Piedmont Care case manager). I felt confident in talking to the doctors and the nurses and asking questions about when it came time to really deal with medication, about different medications and cocktails and stuff like that. So that is one reason why I wanted to do this for Piedmont Care, because I feel that had I not connected with Piedmont Care so early in my HIV infection, it would have been much harder for me to take care of myself, and I wouldn't be doing as well as I am now. Yeah, I really wanted to try and figure out some way to get back. Hopefully this helps.
Bishop: Can you share a bit about your journey as a visual artist, and how you've used your art to express your experiences of living with HIV?
Nesbitt: I haven't really used my art to express my experience of living with HIV. But I have to admit that living with HIV kind of motivated me to try to find my purpose in life, to try to, you know, make as best use of my time as possible because it just made me very, very acutely aware of my mortality, and the fact that I had a time limit on how much time I was going to be here, and made me think about how I wanted to use it. But also Piedmont Care gave me the first public art commission when, I think Tracey (Tracey Jackson, Executive Director) was there, and she learned that I was an artist and asked me to make some drawings for them to put up in the offices there. Which really, made me really proud. It really inspired me and set me up on this path to eventually pursuing it professionally. So that is how living with HIV connects to my art, and that helped to motivate me to kind of discover that this is what I should be doing with my life.
One of the things that happened to me, mentally, when I was diagnosed with HIV, was it really brought up a lot of insecurities, and feelings of low self- worth and just really not feeling valuable at all to society. And when I committed myself to making art full-time it really – and to making and studying art – It gave me that. It gave me back the sense of purpose and usefulness that I felt had mostly lost in my depression over knowing that I was HIV positive. So yeah, it has been a really important part of my journey. And then with the success of my art career, has given me that extra motivation to prioritize my physical and And so, becoming an artist and living with HIV has really helped me to, in a way, live as best I can, and try to be a contributing member of society – something that I seriously felt I couldn’t be for several years after my diagnosis.
Bishop: If you could talk directly to the community where you grew up what would you want them to know about Piedmont Care and about HIV?
Nesbitt: I’d like to emphasize that Piedmont Care is the perfect resource for anyone at risk for or living with HIV. I didn’t know where to go for help. I didn’t know where to find a clinic. So that was mental health, so that I can – there’s still a lot of art that I want to make so I gotta be able to make it! You know what I mean? Just all the information that I learned from Piedmont Care was really empowering and I don’t know if people in the community – It’s been a long time since I’ve been involved, but people need to know that there is a place where they can go if they need to, to get information about prevention and care for HIV and AIDS in Spartanburg. Piedmont Care was very helpful, and they made me feel empowered and more confident in seeking care and help.
