Justin

Lewiston feels like a place where history breathes through brick and river light. When I drew the image that represents hope here, I wasn’t trying to capture a skyline—I was trying to capture a feeling: the way a new place slowly becomes home. Similar to the rhythm of our great falls.

Lewiston holds both struggle and resilience in its streets. The mills, the river, the layered cultures—there’s a quiet courage here. As someone arriving and beginning again, I’m inspired by the way this city makes room for difference. Through art, I’ve found doorways into belonging—studios, conversations, shared walls, shared stories. Art becomes a bridge between who we were and who we’re becoming.

My mentor, Pope.L, taught me that art can carry both heart and confrontation. His practice—rooted with a heart and home in La Maine—reminds me that tenderness and truth can coexist. That you can love a place enough to question it, and question it enough to help it grow.

Hope in Lewiston, for me, looks like color layered over history. It looks like neighbors becoming collaborators. It looks like difference not as division, but as texture. And in that texture, I’m finding my place.