Mentors help victims of bullying make sense of it by creating art

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When Sophia Lombardo logged on to her Tumblr account one day in February 2012, she found more than 100 anonymous messages in her inbox.

“You’re ugly,” one read.

“Nobody likes you.”

“The world would be a better place if you dropped dead.”

A few months later, she found out that she knew the bullies who had sent her the messages. They were her friends.

“It was horrific,” she said. “I was astoundingly depressed.”

Lombardo, 18, transferred to a different high school after her freshman year to get away from the girls and an administration that she felt wasn’t helpful in handling the situation. The next year, she learned of the You Will Rise Project, an online forum where victims of bullying can share their experiences.

Columbus College of Art & Design and the You Will Rise Project came together to create Art Against Bullying, a program through which CCAD students mentor high-school students who have been victims of such harassment. The students make sense of their experiences through art with the help of mentors, some of whom display their own work or collaborate on group pieces.

Now in its second year, the program displayed its art last week in the Acock Gallery of the Canzani Center at Cleveland Avenue and Gay Street. Yesterday was the exhibit’s last day.

“It was interesting hearing their stories and watching them, throughout the weeks, become more comfortable, get over their past and rise above it,” said Jessica Deluca, a mentor in the program.

Paul Richmond and Linda Regula started the You Will Rise Project in 2011. Richmond, a CCAD alumnus, started taking art classes with Regula just before his fourth birthday, and the two have remained close. Regula’s classes helped Richmond cope when he was bullied.

“Even though she wasn’t necessarily trying to solve the problem or tell me what to do, she gave me an outlet to express myself, and sometimes that’s the most important thing,” Richmond said.

They started the project after Regula submitted a painting to be used on marketing materials for an anti-bullying campaign, but it was turned down because it was “too bold.” They wanted to provide an uncensored means of expression for bullying victims.

“Everybody’s bullied for different reasons,” she said. “You should never use it as justification to hurt yourself or to hurt others. You use it as motivation to rise above those people.”

The dozens of pieces in the gallery were as varied as the artists’ experiences: A sketchbook with images of a wolf being tormented by shadowy adversaries. A floor-to-ceiling swath of muslin coated in words and phrases such as worthless or too sensitive. Side-by-side self-portraits before and after the artist had been bullied.

One of Lombardo’s pieces was especially striking: a computer with the words, THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE IF YOU ...painted over the screen, and DROPPED DEAD spelled out in keys on an otherwise empty keyboard.

But the creation of these pieces led to healing and inspiration for the artists. Lombardo, now in her senior year at the Arts and College Preparatory Academy on the East Side, wants to start a nonprofit to help others someday.

“Being in projects like the You Will Rise Project and Arts Against Bullying really makes me feel like that (bullying) doesn’t have to be my life now,” she said. “I’m growing from it.”