Artists of the CHOP: Maya Marie

Hello, my name is Maya Marie. I'm a Seattle musician. I play guitar and sing. And I'm in a band also called Stereo Sauna. The ways I think that CHOP/CHAZ has changed art and artistry in the community is I think that it brought a lot more attention to those who probably were looked past beforehand, especially like POC (people of color) artists, LGBTQ community artists as well. Artists like me, are just trying to figure out how to tell our story.

I feel like the art in CHOP was very clarified, like what people were feeling, it gave the audience who were there an opportunity to understand what was going on.  It was hurtful though to see some people taking advantage of the CHOP, like I'm gonna take this picture, like I was here, without explaining why you were there and understand why you were there. It's good that the art was put into there to help people understand.

I was formerly homeless. When I came out here, I went to school, I got my business degree at Seattle Central College, and I slept in Cal Anderson. I slept in that park many times underneath the tree, at the end of the park, right across the street from the fountain, I slept under that tree with my dog. That park is a magical place, and people come together in that park, and they make great things happen. And that's exactly what we saw there. It was art and community. 

The only thing that was scary about the CHOP was the police. That's what's the most frustrating part about being at the CHOP. That I was scared of the people who were supposed to be protecting me. Everybody else was like, "here free pizza." After experiencing CHOP, I ended up writing a song. A very political song that I wrote, with my really good friend, Emma Pie. I guess I'll just say the first lyrics. It's a "holding my faith to the politician. make us pay tax. It's a tricky tradition." That is the inspiration I got from being there from performing there. 

Make sure you support black-owned businesses make sure you support black artists and all artists that are good but you know, black artists, people of color artists it doesn't have to be black you know it just makes sure we stay cultured a little bit with our music because we can do that America we can we know-how.