For someone who loves talking and asking questions, it is quite surprising how difficult is to dissect her own reasoning of taking the challenge to set up a company, for a second time. I fear an extreme personal corniness on its way, or rather a systematic, almost standard and cold, response in a story that in the end is quite simple. I love engaging people through words, images, ideas... and I love to create the links that trigger that engagement.
Yes, Jo proposed the idea of joining forces to create something of our own and Pulp & Pith was born from there. At the time, I was thinking of developing my photography exclusively, and quite literally, I was in the middle of a photoshoot of my Women Series having Jo as the subject of the day when the bomb landed. I remember clearly leaving Jo’s flat; how slowly I put my coat on and how passively I went downstairs. You see, Jo lives on the top floor of a building with insane steep stairs. By the time I got to the ground floor, I was already in and planning the next step, the next month and… the next 5 years, to be honest. I do love planning ahead.
My career has taken many shapes throughout the years, and as I have grown I have learnt to accept that the beloved plans I cherish tend to shift, adjust and transform in a mix version between what I want, what I create and what life gives. My creative journey started with a clash with teachers, friends and family who believed I should nurture my natural ability of analysing concepts with a career in humanities or, the more traditional, law degree. I disagreed with them, I was ready to be challenged by life, to work hard and most importantly, to analyse concepts to respond to the loud creativity in my brain. I was not wrong. With a strong and constant academic journey, I had planned to have an employer for my first 5 years after graduation before heading to other wonders. That was not the case. I ended having incredible freelance opportunities with local and international clients, and later on embarked with two other close and dear friends to set a up a design studio. We did well, we were a good match but youth hit hard and at 22, within a restrictive society, freedom’s call was powerful and took me to the UK for the first time. That trip proved fundamental for the rest of my life, and framed a shift not only in my personal decisions but also in my professional desires.
People have always being the centre of my artistry. The medium has always being adjustable to respond to either people or my personal take at the moment. My constant has been the camera. And it is in taking photographs where I find myself exploring the own depths of my consciousness. It is rather strange, because in a world so packed with images I worry I am producing only noise. However, when I see the reactions of people to my work, photography, design or any visual intervention, I know for that second that it was worth the ‘noise’. It is in the expertise of a subject, it is when we are confident of understanding and willing to regularly defy this understanding of a subject where work, creativity and satisfaction grow.
Why Sonia? Because interdisciplinarity and creativity meet commitment to make the ideas of others, visual and accessible to all.
#2 From the series 'Why?' -