We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zulay Carolina Rueda Rueda a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Zulay Carolina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I was little, art has been a priority for me in my daily life. I was born into a home of very creative people. My parents are both architects and have always drawn, my grandmothers are both seamstresses, and my older sister is one of the most creative people I know. So being surrounded by these influences helped me choose art as a path in life. Despite this, I did not study anything related to the arts because it was expensive, but I always integrated art empirically in all professional processes and, in general, in my personal life. My favorite and main activity is illustration with watercolors, but I also use acrylics, paint murals and embroidery. I would like to say ceramics, but I have not yet exploited that talent, but it is my next goal.

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

My name is Zulay Carolina Rueda Rueda, I am Colombian and have been living in the United States since 2018. I am a social worker and a Master’s student in social work in UMSL. I started out in the arts when I was little, and over the years I have worked painting murals for fun, but also for companies and non-profit organizations. I also make illustrations that have been used for magazines, publications, and decoration. The latest illustrations of which I am very happy and proud of are those made for the book I co-authored with my friend and coworker Priscyll Anctil Avoine (Instagram: @cyppp_) and her nonprofit organization: Fundación Lüvo (Instagram: @fundacionluvo). This graphic novel is called Feminist Militancy (2024) and seeks to show the experience of farianas women – or women that have been part of the guerrilla Farc-ep – in the process of returning to civilian life after the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the Colombian government. I consider that, as an artist, I distinguish myself by being very honest with what I paint. Moreover, I almost always paint inspired by social situations that have some kind of significance at the level of social justice. The quickest way to contact me is through my email ([email protected]) or follow me on Instagram, where I expose some of the projects I do: @soyazul19

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most satisfying thing about being an artist and making art is always having a resource for survival. For me, art has been an eternal companion in good and bad times, and although I could talk about the economic and commercial aspect of my paintings, I think that for me, the emotional value that painting has played and being constantly in a creative mind is more relevant. To this, I would also add that art has led me to live experiences that have made me meet wonderful people and learn from them, exhibitions that have made me feel the love of people who have been identified or touched by what I paint, when I have traveled and painted in the street and people come up to me to talk to me, when I have painted for love, etc.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I could say that my resilience is in many events in my life and this has helped me to be where I am today. One of the biggest was migrating to another country. Even though I had the privilege of migrating by plane and not having to go through dangerous situations along the way, the cultural shock and being alone in a new country at 20 years old, with a culture and a language that you don’t know, is always a challenging experience. Coming to live in the United States brought me thousands of challenges that little by little I am handling but, above all, it reminds me every day that my home is me and the home must be kept well cared for and full of love. And that is what I try to do constantly; take care of myself and protect myself in order to do the same with those around me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soyazul19/

Image Credits

Zulay Rueda