The Beau Dick: Revolutionary Spirit book review I wrote was published in the 2019 issue of Portal magazine. Even though Beau Dick passed away in 2017, he’s still someone I look up to and admire, both as a visionary artist and as an activist. I’m proud my piece was chosen because it allows me to tell more people about him while critiquing the book.
Two of my photographs were also accepted into the magazine. The first, Take a Pic, was spread over a page and a bit. Ironically, the graffiti the title was taken from was cut off (to the left of the word gone). I was happy with how the image turned out though.
I was a little disappointed by how my second image, Candyland, was used. Photographs are chosen by a panel of judges based on artistic value – in the same way pieces of writing are. As far as I know, none of that writing was cut in half to make room for a photograph or work of art. As someone who writes and creates visual content – both which made it into the magazine – I think it’s fair to say that writing is valued higher than visual art by Portal.
The good news is that the story “Peanuts” (that Candland appeared with ) was written by a friend of mine, Cheryl Folland. It’s a nonfiction story about growing up outside of privilege. A great read. Because I’m happy with the handling of the other two submissions and where this photo was placed I feel it was a good experience overall.
As Portal is a Vancouver Island University magazine, there will be fewer opportunities for me to have work published in it in the future. There are contests open to graduates and other nonstudents, which include publication opportunities, but these spots are limited and generally not genre friendly.
