Amir
Portrait with Heidi Gutman
Portrait with Zachary Maxwell Stertz
I have grown up with people who love me. I grew up having a sense of community around me that helped me and my family whenever something happened. I’ve always lived in Harlem, on the border of Washington Heights. I love it a lot. I spend most of my time there. I've met my friends here and have had so much fun here.
My community is made up of my family, my mom’s friends, my dad—just everyone I care about who I know cares about me. It means so much when they all show up for me. When I was eight I got diagnosed with leukemia and I spent about two years really restricted on what I could do, whether that be going outside or school or anything. It kind of felt like quarantine but much more restricted. I was always hooked up to an IV. I always feel like the reason I was able to overcome that and not feel as traumatized was because I always had those people there who were always so helpful. They gave so much. That means so much for me that they were willing to be there when I needed them the most. This is my fifth or sixth year in remission.
People would see me as a normal fourteen year old. But to the people that know me, all see me as an ambitious, young man who really enjoys the things that he loves, and that I’m really smart and am always finding a way to fix my problems. I want to do something that I like that can help both me and other people— something with computers, and even more specifically, film making. It’s important to me to do something that I enjoy and be able to help my family. Getting a job and getting paid is one thing, but getting paid for something you enjoy doing is another thing.
I like graphic arts for movies and games. I like drawing and I really enjoy the artistic things I come up with, like things that are unorthodox, such as science fiction. I always want to see it end in a different way than how other people see it, such as, what would something that is not human actually look like? Sometimes I disregard realism.
I’m inspired by the people around me, but more often than not, I kind of inspire myself. I want to see me do the best I can. My parents would say they just want me to succeed in life — and that means so much to me. It just feels so encouraging. I try to do my best because they believe in me.
The impact I want to make is one that people can enjoy. There’s some people in history whose impact on society really just caused harm and sadness for other people. I just want to do something that would be remembered or mentioned in a happy way — something they enjoyed growing up with — like a movie or a video game. I just want to be remembered as someone who cared about the people around him. I don’t really care about fame or money. I just care about making people happy through the things that I make. When I’m asked what do you want to do when you grow up, this is what I want.
New York, 2020