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

Carolina, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Pinpointing a specific moment is quite impossible, as in my case it was not a decision but rather a process, similar to creating a work of art. The first step really was to acknowledge my talent, gift and need to express myself in a creative way – all of it was already there before I could even think. I had internalised and normalised them to avoid seeing them. I unconsciously made drawing a substitute for my deficits in both writing and communication.

When it came to choosing a career, I intended to study art and my parents accepted it. However, I didn’t have the courage to free myself from my fears and social norms and ideals, so I began to study occupational therapy until life gave me the gift of recognising the transience of life through illness.

Ephemerality inspires me and gives me the courage to make art and face the many professional demands, to confront my fears and learn to feel my sensations and emotions, which lead me to accept and get to know myself, to show my vulnerably and to understand that my gifts open up the possibility for me to create potential spaces of emotional connection.

Dale Grant

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born in Colombia and have been based in Berlin since I came to Berlin to study at the weissensee school of art and design Berlin, developing my artistic career.

Since 2016 I have been working with paper and charcoal. Preferably I create installation drawings that can be up to 7 meters long, when drawing I let myself be guided by the fascination of the visual contrast between the darkness of charcoal, the luminosity of graphite and the light that shines through the translucency or reflection that occurs on the cut paper. My work is the result of a research process based on theory, practice, experimentation and reflection on the materials. I consider them as sediments, as both are multi-layered formations that refer to time and an informative charge. In my drawings the paper is not only the support of the image, it is instead an active and main part of the drawing or object, I unfold, tear or cut the paper showing its composition and history, leaving behind transparency, texture and form or structure allowing the image to transform into an object.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I believe that nothing is certain, it is easier and more fun if you are open to change to achieve transcendence in all fields of life and in all areas of an artistic career, constantly trying, finding new and better solutions, inspiration everywhere and growing. Fear is an important resource for our survival, it is part of our animal self, it protects us and saves us in some dangerous situations, that’s why I learnt to recognise their importance and to establish a good relationship with them, a kind of companion, I always carry them with me, but I am the guide and the guide who decides about my life.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

For me, it has a special meaning to acquire, keep or not acquire certain resources in life, as I am very grateful for every experience I have made so far. All of which have contributed to making me a unique being and therefore also to my artistic work,

Before I was able to study at university, I never took an art course or received special art lessons at school. My father taught me as a child to draw, to express myself with pictures, to maintain the care and precision of technical drawing and a fascination for the wonders of the universe, my mother taught me that it is a priority to take risks, to measure them and accept their consequences, also that most answers to questions can be found in books and that everything you wish for with all your heart is possible. so I have become a passionate autodidact.

To be an artist is to be in a process of discovery of techniques, cultures, beliefs and sciences. Understanding and fulfilling the requirements to study, present and recognise oneself as an artist is full of uncertainty, learning, hard work and endless effort. Any work of art requires facing one’s personal fears and oneself, and to remain an artist one must not only learn an artistic technique, but also become a writer, researcher, photographer, accountant, public relations manager, event organizer, and so on. I love being an artist and I am excited to learn constantly, every day there is something new to experience and live.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.carolinadelpilar.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carolina.del.pilar/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinadelpilarberlin/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolina-del-pilar-5a67785a/
• Other: tumblr: https://carolina-del-pilar.tumblr.com