Words by Bethany Miller \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nPhotography by Natalie Morris<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no \u201cthey.\u201d This is but one of the many truths spoken by Vanessa German. To call her an artist would be such a dull illustration of her talents. Performance artist, virtuoso, storyteller, sculptor\u2015her medium is her voice, the neighborhood, repurposed relics, paint and pure love. She is a community savior and dazzling truth teller. She is self-taught by life\u2019s experiences, careful attention to history, and the example of her mother. She gives life to the stories of history forgotten and believes her ancestors are alive within her. She spreads love and creativity and possibility despite the tragedies and anger that exist in downtrodden places. \u201cWhy don\u2019t \u2018they\u2019 fix it?\u201d she wonders. And the truth is there is no \u201cthey.\u201d But there is WE.<\/p>\n

Vanessa stands alone on the stage. She doesn\u2019t need props. Her voice booms. Her attire is colorful. Her hands constantly move. Clearly, she is artistic. Forceful. Rhythmic. Every word she speaks is rich, and her verbose vocabulary drips with savory spiritual hope in the midst of a troubled reality. On stage in front of the TEDx camera, in front of audiences, for small media outlets, and now a global business audience, Vanessa German shares stories of unfortunate reality: a reality many live in the midst of, and often a reality many choose to ignore.<\/p>\n

To read more about Vanessa, subscribe to CAKE&WHISKEY magazine or purchase the single issue\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Words by Bethany Miller \u00a0\u00a0 Photography by Natalie Morris There is no \u201cthey.\u201d This is but one of the many truths spoken by Vanessa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[480,40],"tags":[60,367,461,472,434],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/vanessa.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3001,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions\/3001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cakenwhiskey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}