Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandra Isabela Velasco.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’m from the city of Tijuana, graduated from the faculty of Law in the Autonomous University of Baja California (Universidad Autónoma de Baja California), and have been practicing law for the past five years.
I studied my career thinking that law was my calling. I did not see myself as a creative person, I remember my sister telling me not to go to law school, that I was way too creative to study that career, but I didn’t feel that way.
I started exploring my artistic self and creating through photography. I bought a camera and learned how to use it on my own by capturing a lot of photos. Then, at the end of 2016 I just felt like painting, which was kind of strange because I had not done it since I was a child. After so many years it was so easy to express myself over the canvas, I loved the way it made me feel, so from that day on I didn’t stop.
At that moment I was at a phase in my life where I felt kind of lost, where painting was my escape and for the first time I was doing something that helped me find my true self. For several months the only thing I wanted to do with my spare time was to be painting in my room.
Later in 2018, I opened an art studio in Tijuana. It was an abandoned space, I spent six months cleaning and preparing the spot for my first art exhibition, the event exceeded my expectations when about 200 people showed up, I never imagined that the public would be interested in my work, that was one of the key moments that made me believe in myself and my art. I assimilated the idea that what I do moves people in some way or that maybe there’s something they identify with.
I am still a lawyer but always making time to create.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t been easy in the matter of accepting and knowing myself as an artist, it’s being hard going out of my comfort zone, believing in me (the hardest part), exposing my work, having confidence, being honest with myself, and abandoning plans and expectations to follow my heart and inner voice instead, who can live without that? I believe that at the end of the day, that’s why we are in the world, to find what moves us, what fills you with illusion, what calls you… sometimes all you need is a little silence in a noisy world.
Please tell us more about your art.
I consider myself self-taught, what I do is abstract expressionism, being my creative process, a discharge of emotions, an opportunity to bare my soul and leave it on the canvas. I trust my gut to lead my creations, my pieces never end up like what I first envisioned.
My only expectation when I finish a piece, is that someone gets it without me trying to explain what I felt or tried to express, for me the ultimate purpose is that you can find yourself in the painting not the artist.
@Byaivi is my Instagram account, where I share and sell most of my work, and many times the processes as well. I intend to make more art exhibitions, where people can interact directly with the work, and not only through the screen. I am proud of the whole process that I am going through, and where it is taking me little by little, it has been a lot of time and dedication.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of the most dearly memories I have are the days I spent at my grandparents’ house, playing all day with my sisters and cousins.
Contact Info:
- Website: alejandraisabela.com
- Email: alejandraisabela.vi@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byaivi/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/belavsco/
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