We recently connected with Agostina Cerullo and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Agostina, thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

Thanks for having me! I remember a critique where I shared a really personal project about grief and identity. It included handwritten notes, found objects, and images that were deeply meaningful to me. Someone called it chaotic and unfocused, in my mind, every part had a purpose, but I realized I hadn’t communicated that clearly enough.

I think it happened because the project was so personal to me that I just assumed its meaning would naturally come through. But art doesn’t work like that. It’s not just about what’s there, it’s also about how you frame it. That experience taught me that adding a little context can help anchor the viewer without taking away their freedom to interpret it in their own way.

What I didn’t expect was how their misunderstanding actually added something new. They saw connections I hadn’t thought about, which gave the work more layers than I had intended. It made me realize that once you put your work out there, it takes a life of its own and it’s no longer fully yours, and that makes creating so interesting. Even when you create alone, it becomes a shared experience.

Agostina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Of course! I’m a photographer originally from Argentina who’s spent the last few years living and working between London, New York, and Buenos Aires. My work is rooted in personal experiences, grief, love, identity, and transformation are recurring themes for me. I’m drawn to fleeting, unscripted moments, the kind that feel almost invisible until they’re frozen in time. I work intuitively, often blending photography with handwritten notes, found objects, and experimental formats like handmade books or installations. For me, it’s not just about creating images but about building something tactile and layered, pieces that feel like personal artifacts, where the audience can almost trace the emotions behind them. Lately, I’ve also been exploring storytelling through experimental music videos, abstract drawings and visual sequences that play with rhythm and mood. At the heart of it all, I’m interested in the messy, emotional connections we have with ourselves, others, and the spaces we move through.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is the freedom to express myself in so many different ways. It’s like taking all my emotions, thoughts, and imagination and transforming them into some sort of “beautiful chaos” where raw feelings and organic flow take the lead. Creating art is incredibly liberating. It’s healing, self-reflective, and has this amazing power to connect with others.

Art isn’t just personal, it’s also expansive. It can be social or political, a way to push back against oppression or challenge the norm. It’s taught me to let go of control and embrace imperfections, which is scary but also incredibly freeing. For me, it’s never just about the final piece. The process itself, the release, and everything I learn from it, is what keeps me coming back to create again and again.

Art and movement have saved me so many times. They’re healing forces that have become an integral part of who I am. Through art, I’ve connected with expressive, vibrant people everywhere I’ve gone, people unafraid to feel deeply, to be weird, to stand out, and to let their creativity run wild. The community I’ve built through these connections is one of the most rewarding gifts art has given me, and it continues to inspire me every day.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think a lot of non-creative people struggle to understand that, for some of us, creating isn’t just a career choice or a hobby, it’s a need. It’s not something we can just walk away from or replace with a more “stable” or conventional job. Creativity is how we process the world, how we make sense of our emotions, and how we connect with others. It’s as essential as breathing.

There’s this misconception that artists are lazy or take an easy path, but in reality, the artist’s life is relentless. There are endless sleepless nights, manic days when we burn through every ounce of energy because the momentum of creativity, the magical flow, might not last and when it hits, we have to ride it for as long as we can, no matter how drained we end up. There’s this saying, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life,” but the truth is, doing what you love means working harder than you can imagine, every single day, there’s no going back home to disconnect because the mind keeps on creating. For me constant movement, periods of deep connection contrasted by extended solitude and an intensity that might seem overwhelming, are the very things that keep me creating, even if they’re hard for others to understand.

Recently, I questioned for the first time if I could continue this journey. The unpredictability, the pressure of being an artist while sharing the constant vulnerability of my work felt overwhelming. There were times I wanted to step back from the expectations of visibility, to retreat from it all, to be unknown. But even in those moments, I couldn’t stop creating, the ideas kept coming, they keep forming and evolving, whether I am ready for them or not. I realized that quitting art isn’t possible for me. It’s who I am. The artist’s life is full of uncertainty and self-doubt, and it’s easy to question everything. I guess what keeps us going is the satisfaction that comes from turning thoughts and emotions into something tangible, and connecting with others through that work. I guess for those of us who create, it’s not a choice. It’s simply who we are.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.agostinacerullo.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forartsssake
• Other: Prints http://buymeacoffee.com/agostinacerullo
  Words https://substack.com/@agostinacerullo
  LinkTree https://linktr.ee/agostinacerullo

Image Credits

Camya Hernandez @camya.hernandez