Bunny Michael Artist Interview: All Creation in Collaboration with the Higher Self

Working through a multitude of mediums, queer POC writer, musician, and artist Bunny Michael creates with an expansive, soul-filled purpose of serving one’s Higher Self. In spring 2023, they released a genre-bending 5-track EP entitled Angels Everywhere, and over the course of the next year, will publish a self-love book entitled Hello Higher Self, continue their advice-oriented XO Higher Self podcast, and release more episodes of their ongoing web series, Broadly Hotline. All are in service to the spiritual mission at-hand.

Bunny Michael Interdisciplinary Artist Interview


Everyone is Whole & Enough as They Are

“I’m an artist who is really interested in a very kind of specific message, and I use a lot of different mediums to say that message,” says Michael. “That message [is] that we’re are all whole as we are; we’re all enough as we are, and that I believe the only way we’re going to survive as a species is to awaken to that truth.”

Scrolling through Michael’s extensive social media presence, one finds a delightful grab bag of self-help quotes and vibrant memes starring Care Bears, Winnie the Pooh, and Spongebob Squarepants. Yet beneath the pop culture exterior always lies a deeper message.

“The cause of so much unnecessary suffering is: not being told that everybody has essential worth, and living in a world that doesn’t reflect that, and living in a world of structure and… belief systems, and thought systems that [are] based on hierarchy,” Michael continues.

Coming to these conclusions hasn’t always been smooth-sailing. Michael shares that they have been someone who “always struggled with depression and anxiety and suicidal ideation.” To address these difficulties, they have participated in many healing modalities through the years; since 2014, the modalities have included various plant medicines.

“I kind of got this message in one of the ceremonies that was like… ‘You’re not doing this; [the art is] just happening through you,’ Michael shares. “After that, I was really able to create very easily, because I realized that all it really is is a flash of a moment, and that we all are just translating the same information, and it comes out differently out of us, because we come from different experiences.”

Bunny Michael Interdisciplinary Artist Interview

“I just really clearly saw in that moment that all of the things that I had been seeking through partners, through career, through my parents, through social media recognition, or whatever it was, was something that I needed to give myself.” – Bunny Michael

 

Art in Service of a Greater Vision

Afterwards, Michael’s relationship to creativity was forever changed. They’ve since realized that expressing divine lessons about the wholeness of humanity is fundamental to their work; the mediums and methods are secondary. Operating through such an expansive perspective has allowed them to loosen the reins on some of the more insignificant aspects of their creative process.

“[It] really helped me realize to not be so precious about whatever it is I’m creating, and that it’s in collaboration with something much greater than myself,” Michael expresses.

That collaboration was further solidified in 2016, during one of the lowest points of Michael’s life. They had just gone through a period of depression and a devastating breakup — of the kind that “just makes you not believe in love anymore,” they describe — and in the midst of feeling like they could no longer go on, they had a profound experience while in their bedroom.

“I closed my eyes and I just kind of had this vision of another version of me holding me and telling me that I was okay, that I am all I need to be, and that I can let go,” expresses Michael. “It was the most profound spiritual experience, because I just really clearly saw in that moment that all of the things that I had been seeking through partners, through career, through my parents, through social media recognition, or whatever it was, was something that I needed to give myself.”

Art has become a spiritual practice for Michael, and it manifests in ways that are humorous, profound, and all shades in-between. These early visions initially led Michael to create a number of memes with “self-deprecating humor,” beginning with a piece that featured Kermit the Frog in as a being in conversation with his Higher Self. The memes unexpectedly became popular on Instagram, leading Michael to realize that they could no longer create without embedding some kind of intention into their works.

“I took out a piece of paper, and I wrote, ‘What do people need now?’ and I [responded], ‘Being seen, healing from trauma, having a self-expression of creative voice,'” Michael recalls. Following that, they asked themselves how they could help, and concluded they would no longer “put anything out unless it fit into these categories.”

With the release of their latest EP and upcoming book, Michael’s multi-platform journey of artistic expression is well-positioned to reach further and elevate higher. While they admit that their return to music joyously comes after a period of burnout from the music industry and that their book project was one of the hardest things they have ever done, all projects are unified in service to the Higher Self.

The world need only prepare itself for Michael’s rainbow brand of inspiration, which allows them to heal through their own work while simultaneously showing others that we are all our whole selves need.

Bunny Michael – “Angels Everywhere” Music Video

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Written by
Vee Hua 華婷婷

Vee Hua 華婷婷 (they/them) is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer with semi-nomadic tendencies. Much of their work unifies their metaphysical interests with their belief that art can positively transform the self and society. They are the Editor-in-Chief of REDEFINE, Interim Managing Editor of South Seattle Emerald, and Co-Chair of the Seattle Arts Commission. They also previously served as the Executive Director of the interdisciplinary community hub, Northwest Film Forum, where they played a key role in making the space more welcoming and accessible for diverse audiences.

Vee has two narrative short films. Searching Skies (2017) touches on Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States; with it, they helped co-organize The Seventh Art Stand, a national film and civil rights discussion series against Islamophobia. Reckless Spirits (2022) is a metaphysical, multi-lingual POC buddy comedy for a bleak new era, in anticipation of a feature-length project.

Vee is passionate about cultural space, the environment, and finding ways to covertly and overtly disrupt oppressive structures. They also regularly share observational human stories through their storytelling newsletter, RAMBLIN’ WITH VEE!, and are pursuing a Master’s in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship under the Native American Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.

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