Hi friends, it's Estefi here. Today, I am sharing from Quito, Ecuador, it's a cool summer day. Last night, we visited our friends at Punto Rojo, a gallery and art space here in Quito’s cultural scene. They were hosting the opening for their current exhibit, which features El Club Del Collage, which is, get ready, my favorite community art therapy and collective healing creative safe space in this city.
Listen, when you're trying to heal your inner child and you have to revisit so much trauma because you're back in the scene of the crime, laughing at awkward therapy jokes, I honestly felt like I would never find places here that felt safe, really, truly safe. And it's not because I go often, but because when I enter these healing art spaces, Punto Rojo and El Club Del Collage, and most importantly, the people who make them, wow, my heart beats in a way that feels joy. It sees eyes full of love, smiles of genuine humans who are happy to share space with you.
It's odd, I'm sure it happens to others, but have you felt that feeling when someone sees you and gets so excited to see you and you were just as excited to see them and it just matches in a way that you don't know how or where but it feels like somehow, somewhere, maybe, we shared another lifetime? Some of those people are still in my life, some of those we've let go, some of those I'm yet to meet, but a lot of those humans happen to be in this space. And that, that is why I love this little space, the little pocket of nostalgia, of artistic community, of creativity, of camaraderie, of friendship, that I have found in the people who are Punto Rojo & El Club del Collage. Because like the exhibit yesterday reminded us of this connection.
This post is my celebration to them, to the space they opened last night to celebrate all of the humans like me that they have supported, silently, even without knowing, held a piece of our heart as we created collage art, cut, glued, and talked our hearts open, and with their safety, they created a home, a safe space, where we can simply be, together.
“Mientras Hacemos Con Las Manos Abrigamos Con La Palabra.”
Obras desde El Club Del Collage
¿Cortar o Pegar? ; ¿Rasgar o morir?
El Club de Collage cumple ocho anos de existencia.
Esta exhibición celebra su práctica doble: hacer collage y hacerlo en grupo. Nada más subversivo que apropiarse de material ajeno con el fin de crear algo nuevo. Nada más subversivo que hacerlo en la compañía de un círculo de personas. Esta exhibición rinde homenaje al Club de Collage exponiendo series de obras con los motivos, técnicas y conversaciones mas emblemáticas en su archivo.
Hacer collage en colecivo resulta tener algo de ritual y teatrals un grupo de gente en diclogo que acuerda destruir para crear.
Y las posibilidades están abiertas: se puede cortar, pegar, rasgar, escucharse mutuamente, y salvarse a uno mismo y a otros en el intento.
Meijun and I (Estefi) are two creative, sensitive souls seeking safety, seeking creativity, seeking play, and we have made it our mission to show up creatively for a weekly/bi-weekly/monthly intentional "date" time. We have known each other for 14 years this August 22, we've been boyfriend and girlfriend for 10 years, we've been dog parents for 9 years, we've been coworkers and cofounders for 5 years, and one thing I can tell you about working with your significant other is: it's hard, it's beautiful, it's rewarding, and the most important thing, it takes caring for each other more than your business goals. Yes, I said it. I think that my relationship has to always matter more than my co-dreamed business goals, when it comes down to the business we run together, OBVIOUSLY. Everyone's individual path is more important than their relationship path in my opinion, and if, in that walking, you find someone that is willing to walk this path alongside you and you are willing to walk their path alongside them, then you've found a gem, a gem so precious, precious enough, to care for.
I still remember the days in the middle of the pandemic in 2020-2021 when people, strangers, friends and family alike, kept pushing us to "grow our team", "grow our business", "grow our studio", and we kept saying no, not today, not right now. We knew, our intuition knew, we needed to care for the people behind the business. Growing with intention, growing our creative meaningful life, not letting our business outgrow us. Always feeding our rest, our creativity, always listening, especially when we burned out. When we had to stop. We barely had a relationship left, but we had a booming business and a growing instagram following.
Anyone that knows a little bit about creative Estefi, they know that collage art therapy is the way to my soul. When everything felt like it was falling apart, reconstructing, collage always held the space to build, love, joy, pain, trauma. Anyone that knows a little bit about creative Meijun, they know that he loves ideas, loves visual executions, and loves to create photographic compositions, mostly digital, but hey, I guess a couple who creates visual compositions together stays together? jaja
And I guess that, it makes sense we met as students at the Communications Design department at Pratt Institute. We both found safety in art, in connecting and reconnecting with our creative selves.
Thankful, grateful, and in awe of artists, of humans who dare to bare their heart through their hands, who are willing to play, to create, to be vulnerable and share.
Below are more pieces from the beautiful exhibit at Punto Rojo. I've made a small video with some of the moments from last night, and I hope you all get to feel even if it's just a little bit of the magical experience the El Club Del Collage & Punto Rojo team put together for us all.
Written elsewhere, with love,
Estefi
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