We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Arianna Castillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Arianna below.

Arianna , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

When I started my life after high school I decided to major in architecture, when covid happened I think it gave me a lot of time to really think about what I wanted from life. When I was furloughed I was able to get unemployment, which jumpstarted my business. I worked in retail and joined a tattoo studio as an apprentice. I think that really pushed me towards making the decision between my day job and my, at the time, side hustle. I think posting on social media is really what gave me my career. I almost feel my business was given to me. I got lucky to be able to create and make money from it. I feel very blessed.

Arianna , 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?

I am Girl Plastic, and I create dark surrealist art. I also have a clothing brand that is my baby essentially. My purpose is to create and essentially perform. Time is fleeting, and one day none of us will be apart of this thing we call life. I believe life is a performance and I just want to be the best thing I can be because I owe it to myself.

All of my work revolves around the feeling I believe we all experience from time to time. Girl Plastic in itself has meaning. It is a representation of who and what we all are. We don’t like to face the idea of vulnerability, fear, and sensitivity, or who we really are. We like to put up a facade that reads pure perfection. We modify our bodies, break our bone, edit photos. We dress up our characters however we want to be perceived. Its a climb with no end yet we still try to get there as hard as we can. It’s a dance I still participate in myself.

I am proud of how I made it to this position to be able to take care of myself from the things I have created and will create in the future. It is hard for me to give myself credit where its due because well, we are our own worst critic. However, I am a hard worker, and I know what I want. I love a good chase and I’m willing to make the stride.

If you have the time to check out my work my website is girlplasticart.com. This is where I list all of the things I create by hand and more. My brand mostly revolves around catholic imagery, as catholicism has a big influence on my identity, and the way it associates with todays culture. I make the designs by hand and carve them out, then print them onto clothes, my most popular items being the tank tops I make, as those were what launched me to make my business.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think for the most part people are very rational in their thinking about what you should do in your life. It can be very rigid like, you must go to school, find your husband or wife, then have a baby and, of course, work a stable job that will take care of all of that. But again, life is a performance and really you can do anything. There are things we are all gifted at, yet don’t let ourselves explore or engage in the idea that our dreams can be reality because we are afraid. I am a firm believer in the idea of if there’s a will there’s a way. All it takes is dedication and and drive, so just work it and you will end up in the positions to make it happen.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think I just want to convey a message in all of my work. I want my work to explain why I call myself Girl Plastic. I want to make people feel a bit unnerved but convey it in a beautiful way. Because sometimes beautiful things are scary. Just like scary things can be beautiful and tempting. I am an existentialist and I think every part of life should be celebrated in a way. The pain we experience, heart ache, loneliness, and the fear of death. How we give our bodies to religions and pop culture. My art is a diary of what I experience.

Contact Info:

• Website: girlplasticart.com
• Instagram: @whoisgirlplastic
• Twitter: @whoisgrlplsc
• Other: tiktok: @girl_plastic

Image Credits
first image by @austinvandeusen