You're listening to TED Talks Daily. I'm Elise Hew. Now, perhaps more than ever, we're

understanding the deep relationship between our spaces and our sense of identity and purpose.

Artist Chantelle Martin found a new way of seeing through her art and by leaving her comfort zone. In her

TED 2020 talk, she shows us how we can do the same thing in this uncomfortable moment. She shows us

how to let go of our fears, be more of ourselves, and see. She says seeing is a lot more than just

having the sense of sight.

So here we are. I'm at home, as I'm sure many of you are too.

And we've all begun to understand how our relationship with ourselves, with each other,

and the spaces we exist in can deeply impact our sense of identity and purpose. So much has dramatically changed.

There's a sense of distance now, unlike ever before. But what if I told you that you could find a way

from your heart to your hand to reconnect again. And that through this practice and embracing this pause,

I could help you to recalibrate your mind

so that you could explore this new reality with joy,

enthusiasm, imagination and hope.

And all it would take is a simple pen.

To get you there, let's go back to the beginning. As a kid growing up

in a council state in southeast London, I was an outsider. I'm the oldest of six kids, and all of my

siblings look very English. Blonde hair, blue eyes, very cute. And then there was me, half Nigerian,

brown with an afro. So what happens when

you look different and you feel different? And in many ways start to think differently from everyone

and everything around you. How do you find your way out of a dark, racist, homophobic and very lonely place. This is where the pen comes in.

I started to draw, and the first thing I did is I followed this line, and I drew myself out of a

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