Hello friends, family, and broader community. My name is Tanya, I'm a one-eyed artist, born and raised in San Francisco.

I continue to make work in San Francisco, and have recently had a bad health spell brought on by several hits to my well being, triggering old injuries that have been relentless. Because of that I am in financial duress.

While surviving from a near death car accident in 2005, can seem like an amazing feat that somehow I am still walking on this earth; it is also a gift of turmoil that keeps on giving.

I did suffer a Minor Traumatic Brain Injury, which has made it difficult to work, but I am getting better at synthesizing everything, and being conscious about how I survived, how to help others, and how to show my work to the world. My brain is so much better, but the systems I have depended upon are not growing with me. My recent art inquiry and work around finishing a novel, archiving, repurposing the old and making new work around it all ended up taking me down into a dark place of reliving it!

So I have to be honest that I have had set backs, car expenses, vet expenses, art expenses, operating and keeping fresh in this constantly moving world has got me tangled up and not meeting my needs. I am currently on Social Security, I have EBT, and I go to the food bank. Day to day feels like a tightrope act of playing how do I get my basic needs met, and how do I plan for the future. I have spent years adapting, problem‑solving, growing and accepting. I am doing my best to stay healthy and afloat. My parents have helped me significantly over time—both financially and with housing, and I’m deeply grateful for that support. But as I am more aware of what I need to feel empowered to care for myself, at the same time my parents have entered a stage of life where they require more care themselves. We are having a crisis in communication, where the things that worked for them, don't help with the long term vision. I am needing to come up with independent plans as communication and relational gap grows. Without a proper infrastructure in place, it’s increasingly difficult to ensure sustainability for myself — and to be reliable for them.

I’m being asked to step up in many ways at once: managing my disability, supporting my parents, and planning for the future. Doing this without adequate systems, resources, or backup isn’t functional, and it’s not something I can responsibly continue without change. This fundraiser is part of building that missing infrastructure. It will help me regain solvency around disability‑related expenses, mobility costs, pet care, and essential living needs. Stabilizing these areas is necessary for me to move forward rather than stay in constant triage.

I’m also actively working toward launching my own business and entering a more generative phase of my development. My work spans art, writing, film, and ethical AI, and reflects a long‑term commitment to recovery, creativity, and contribution. While this work is meaningful and ongoing, it requires a stable foundation to become sustainable. This fundraiser is coming at a time that I need to branch out to my community for help to create a new system —it’s about transition. It’s a bridge from a period of setbacks and fragmentation into one of stability, agency, and shared support. I’m ready to bring my voice, skills, and creative work more fully into the world, and to leave this chapter of constant survival

behind me. I’m also sharing this through CaringBridge as part of reconnecting with a supportive community—one grounded in mutual aid, dignity, and reciprocity, not just one‑way help. If you’re able to donate, share, or help connect me with resources, I’m deeply grateful.