We were lucky to catch up with DANIELLA VALE recently and have shared our conversation below.

DANIELLA, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I worked on this immersive large scale outdoor film and photo project called Path of Liberty: That Which Unites Us. For this project, me and my team of 4 crew members, spent over 2 months traveling in a van across the country filming interviews and photographing a variety of Americans asking them What Being American means to them and reflecting on the founding principles of democracy and liberty. It’s never a project I would have imagined doing. I never considered myself to be particularly patriotic. In fact, I’ve spent the majority of my adult life living outside the United States, and this gave me a bit of a unique perspective in regards to the world at large and eventually a new found appreciation for what the United States of America actually is. Getting the opportunity to travel around the country and see how vast and diverse and stunning this country is was the chance of a life time. It was really impactful traveling to the National Parks out west. It was my first time seeing the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley and they were other worldly. It really gave me a newfound appreciation for how incredible this land is. It was very eye opening to me to speak to people from across this land and to see the vast differences in way of life and yet a common theme of values emerged. Across the board, Americans believe in freedom, liberty, equality, and justice. It was incredibly inspiring and showed me that the narrative we are being fed is not true. Americans are truly good and caring people with common values. There might differences in nuance on how to live out those values, but despite what people want us to believe, there is much more that unites us than divides us. We owe each other that curiosity and empathy.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a visual storyteller and creative director working at the intersection of photography, film, and immersive installation. I grew up around my uncles who were experimental filmmakers and so I always had a camera in hand. I was fascinated with the other worlds and emotional states films could take you to, allowing you to access parts of your own story through the characters on screen. I was deeply influenced by the power of the cinematic language.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with a range of artists and organizations—and working across the world from Tokyo to Mumbai to Montevideo and many places in between. The ability to tell visual stories and capture the beauty around me has always inspired me.

I live and breathe visuals and beyond my film directing and photography experience also do creative direction and have been lucky to use my skills to create large-scale visual installations and immersive storytelling experiences. Most recently, I created Path of Liberty: Which Unites Us, a 6-acre outdoor photo and video exhibition in New York City that explores what it means to be American today through monumental portraits, intimate audio stories, and an 8-screen video installation. It’s part public art, part open-air cinema, part civic ritual.

What sets my work apart is the emotional intimacy and integrity I bring to large-scale visual experiences. I aim to hold space for complexity—to let the light fall where it needs to fall, and to honor people’s stories without forcing them into simple boxes. Whether I’m filming a one-on-one interview or crafting a multi-channel outdoor installation, my goal is to create work that is honest, emotive, immersive, and reminds us all of our common human experiences.

I’m most proud of the trust people place in me to tell their stories—especially those who have never been in front of a camera before. And I’m proud of the teams I’ve built: people who care deeply, take risks creatively, and believe in the power of art to create connection and reflection.

If you’re a potential collaborator, client, or curator, what I want you to know is: I approach every project with rigor, care, and an artist’s eye. I’m not here to sell an aesthetic—I’m here to build something meaningful with you. Whether you’re creating a cultural experience, a documentary, a brand story, or a public art piece, I’d love to help you make something that resonates and endures.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As Rumi says, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” And the same is with creativity. The journey of creativity is to remove all of the blocks that the experience of life has created that stops us from being out most authentically expressed creative selves. The more I have worked on myself and made peace with my own demons, the more I have been able to become open to allowing that creative spark to run through me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect has been when I meet people that are truly touched or inspired by the work I have made. The beauty of filmmaking is that it allows us to go to places that we might be afraid to go to ourselves. To deal with complex and heavy emotions that exist with in each of us but we are often too scared to face. Through the art of filmmaking, we can explore and see the world from all of these different perspectives and it leaves us changed and opened in a way that is deeply impactful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.daniellavale.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellava/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniella-vale-8107b347/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chicario92
• Other: https://vimeo.com/dvale

Image Credits

Photo by Maria Kazikhanov