Celina Pereira
Artist
Where were you raised? Has the landscape of that place influenced your work in any way?
I was raised in Olney, MD, a small town between Baltimore and Washington D.C. Both of my parents were born and raised in Brazil, so every summer until college I would go to Fortaleza, BR and stay with my grandparents. That landscape—the climate, language, music, colors, food, beach, folklore—that cultural landscape pervades my work both instinctually and through my sheer desperation to keep it close, as I continue to live and feel far away.
How do you re-charge your creative battery?
The answer changes, but I try everything. Getting out of my head and screen by going outside, moving my body, watching the sky change colors or the ocean sway. I cull. I cull through books, old archives of images on my phone (of museums, of strangers, of nature, of album covers, of interiors), digital folders of saved inspiration (Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, folders titled "old desktop" buried in multiple "old desktop" folders on my Desktop). I listen to music, watch videos, and have good conversations with friends. The truth is I think my creative battery is most re-charged by newness — when I get to experience a new place, a new thing, or new people.
What book are you reading?
Currently, I'm working through Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Recently, I finished Untamed by Glennon Doyle, which is a book that makes you feel more at ease with just being alive and being yourself (whomever it is that you choose to be). Also, Tales of Accidental Genius by Simon Van Booy—whose short stories I adore. There's a story in this book set in China about a boy whose father invents a kind of magical scooter. It's perfectly and quietly hypnotic.
What was the last thing that you fell in love with?
One of the things that comes to mind immediately is an artist named Thaddeus Mosley. He is a sculptor who works primarily with repurposed wood—trees and old lumber he finds in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He is self taught and works mostly with a hand chisel, ultimately creating these huge works often made up of multiple pieces that can be put together and taken apart, like gigantic legos. He is 94 years old and worked 12 hours a day in his studio until the age of 90. Since then, he's reduced it to 6 hours a day. He worked full-time for 40 years for the US Postal Service to provide for his family and still maintained a studio space that whole time. After reading a few interviews with him, I just fell in love. He is a man who appears to know so well how to love his art, build a life and family, savor his joy, and really live.
What do you love most about yourself?
I'm an emotional person and I believe that fuels the best parts of me. It's the connective tissue of all of my relationships and my work. Even though it's draining and makes me want to hide from the sun for a week every now and then, it's only because I care a lot. I love that I do (even if I tell myself I don't sometimes).
What do you think is the most important quality in a human?
Compassion and kindness. These are traits that are difficult to, genuinely, have and maintain. It so often requires our egos to take a back seat to a person or a circumstance that we don't entirely understand. It requires a quiet and steady confidence in yourself so that you may see and allow others to be themselves without judgement.
Do you have a spiritual practice?
Not a clearly defined one, but yes. My spiritual practice is perpetually a work in progress. I was raised Catholic and found that "religion" in the conventional sense doesn't work for me. But I believe in a greater connectedness. I believe in the power of our individual and collective energies. It can be hard and uncomfortable, but I try to connect to whatever "it" is by taking a quiet moment: through breath, writing, during a yoga class, or sometimes by talking out loud to myself and the universe. Some people might call that prayer.
Who are your role models?
My mom for showing me how to be independent and take ownership of my life (and for showing me what true compassion is). My dad for showing me how to be a person of integrity and for making me feel like there was nothing I could dream up that I couldn't do (and how to find creative solutions for everything). My brother for being outrageously intelligent and living his life as fully as all of us wish we would (a rocket engineer who base jumps). My friends—some show me how to be smart and funny, others kind and loyal, others fierce and brave. All of these people ultimately show me how satisfying and lovely it is to be kindly and unapologetically yourself. Also Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Michaela Coel.
If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be? Is there an individual or an organization doing work in this area that you want us to know about?
This feels like a tough question, particularly right now where it seems like the whole world is on fire, a baseline of anxiety and fear is the norm, and everything is on the verge of doom if it doesn't change. But I have to say climate change. Humanity depends on it and it has to change NOW. My friend turned me onto Valeria Hinojosa, who posts a lot of helpful tips and information on how to reduce your personal environmental impact through things like: veganism, composting, upcycling, sustainable products and companies to purchase from, etc. I have so much to learn and change in this department. Government needs to create serious new legislation, large corporations need to drastically change their operations, and the individual needs to be made aware of the science, accept it as truth, and change our individual behaviors to significantly reduce our consumption and waste.
Before I die I want to…
...live as much as possible. Travel to as many countries as I can, live abroad, create an immense body of work that I feel proud of and is uniquely me. See my art hang on the walls of a museum (hi Centre Pompidou). But most importantly, I want to love well and do good by the people in my life (and ripple out to my community and people not technically in my life). And lastly, before I die, I want to know that every day I put one foot in front of the other, regardless of fear and always with hope. I want to go knowing that I felt it all.
All photos courtesy of Celina Pereira
