Amid isolation and grief, community and empathy can be found and shared through The HeartbroQen Project. Kingston artist and figurative painter, Meenakashi Ghadial, BFA’24, is the creative force behind the Heartbroken in the Driver’s Seat: Stories of Queer Heartbreak and The HeartbroQen Project.
Drawing inspiration from her personal experiences and difficulties navigating her queer identity as a second-generation immigrant in her family. Her work delves into themes of love, intimacy, grief, and sexuality.
Her current project The HeartbroQen Project, was born out of Ghadial’s own experiences with gried and heartbreak following the end of her five-year-long relationship just over a year ago. Unable to share her grief with her mother, Ghadial felt an intense lonliness.In search of comfort she often retreated to the driver’s seat of her car which became her solace amid lonliness.
“This project really stemmed from not having that family and community to tell and rely on. So, I started the project just out of wanting the queer community to have a place to kind of share their stories and to not feel alone,” Ghadial said in an interview with The Journal.
The intersection of her identity as a queer-Punjabi Canadian woman creates cultural barriers that complicate and hinder her relationship with her mother. For Ghadial, this is a heartbreak she vows that her children will never feel the bitter pain that once consumed her heart.
From heartbreak, a yearning for community was born, and she set out to create it.
The isolation Ghadial felt after her breakup inspired her to start The HeartbroQen Project in October 2023, here queer people can submit their stories through an online portal, an avenue in which they can see they are not alone in their experiences. The experience of reading other people’s stories allowed Ghadial to heal from her experiences.
“I read these stories and I’m almost inserting myself in their shoes and thinking of someone else’s pain. Switching from pity for yourself to empathy for another is a lot more healing,” Ghadial said in an interview with The Journal.
As she kept reading the online submissions, Ghadial noticed recurring themes and similarities among the stories.
This allowed her to see thatmany queer people are experiencing very similar struggles yet remain unaware of the vast number of people who share their experiences and grief.
“In that same way, I saw myself with these stories. And that’s what I was looking for; a mirrored experience; if someone else can get through this so can I,” Ghadial said in an interview with The Journal.
Not all stories submitted were that of heartbreak; some were filled with hope for their loved ones.
A mother shared her story on the portal about her daughter coming out and having a girlfriend, expressing only her hope it doesn’t end in heartbreak.Submissions like this give Ghadial hope the future is not as dark as it seems and that parents and guardians who’ve been unaccepting can one day change.
“I know parents can get there and like I would only hope that mine can one day, but it does give me a lot of hope for myself because since I don’t have that from my family, I am finding it from other people and that’s hope in itself,” Ghadial said
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