Today we’d like to introduce you to Milena Arango.
Hi Milena, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Life has so many twists and turns, it takes you to places you never even knew existed. I was born in Cali, Colombia, but at a very early age, because of my mother´s studies we moved to Pittsburg, US for a few years, that’s when my journey with art started.
My mother would take us to a park where they would take out these huge rolls of paper for kids to paint on. I remember I loved the weekend painting with my sister at the park.
Those are some of the first and best memories of my life. We moved back to Colombia, then Argentina, back to the US, Colombia, Argentina again, Colombian and now I have been back in the US for almost 4 years. I came to the exhibit in Miami for the Art Basel week, met my husband, and stayed.
We´ve done a lot of traveling between California and Florida, but now I can call Florida my home. I studied Visual Arts in Bogotá, in Pontificia Universidad Javeriana after I graduated I’ve taken many art and theater courses around the world, including in Buenos Aires, Italy, and India.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The ride is never smooth, but most of the time the results of a lot of work can give you amazing rewards. I´ll struggle, and probably shed some tears but all that process is what makes you stronger and wiser and they will prepare you for your next moves.
And yes, of course, who wouldn’t want a smooth or easy ride? Everybody, but I think that all the obstacles make you stronger and reflect in your work. When you create art, you have to be true to yourself, that dialog will always come up in your work and it’s impossible to hide, so it’s best if you’re real.
I grew up traveling and that has it’s good and bad, but mostly good. I always have to start again, introduce myself, meet new people, find my way around, and know the place, it takes time, but I think it’s all positive. I like starting over, from scratch, I hate routines and I guess being uncomfortable can take you to be comfortable.
I have a lot of amazing memories and a lot of stories to tell, I’ve been to beautiful places and met some great people. It all depends on what perspective you allow yourself to see things.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Since my Art Residency in India in 2014, I’ve been working with natural pigments. I usually have a lot of projects at the same time but my main project is called Vestigium Tectona Grandis, VTG.
I’ve been working on this project since 2016, it was made in La Pintada, Colombia. It’s a long piece of cloth (60 meters x 150cm) made with the in-print of the teak tree leaf. It’s my umbilical cord to my mother, to life, my connection to the universe. VTG it’s an extension of myself.
VTG has been exhibited in different venues between Colombia and the United States. I’m constantly looking for locations to take pictures depending on what I need to say and the space available to work on for that session.
All the photos that I’ve taken have so many stories, each one is very different from the other and there’s always something special to tell behind each picture. I usually take the pictures myself, but every now and then depending on the picture, I’ll work with other photographers.
This can be my life project, who knows, I really don’t have intentions to stop working with VTG for the moment.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Keep on going. Take a few breaks every now and then, and give yourself permission to have fun and enjoy life. But always keep working, enjoy what you do, and love what you do, it will definitely stand out.
Discipline and hard work. Become obsessed with your work, talk about it, dream about it, think about and work, work, work.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.milena-arango.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arangomilena/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meany2018
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/arangomilena
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrgJRPUjL4nSJFlT3e1h3HQ
Image Credits
Joe Ledesma, Beatriz Arango, and Milena Arango
