My artistic journey to become a contemporary urban fine artist and artivista started very young. I arrived in Germany as a child of political refugees from Chile and from then on growing up in different parts of the country. In the midst of Europe, I broadened my horizons in terms of intercultural exchange and learned how to deal with issues of social justice and community. Both my parents raised me in an academic environment, which quickly made me realize the privileges of my childhood. At the end of 1997, I moved to Berlin at the age of 15 to complete my German high-school diploma at Heinrich-Schliemann-Gymnasium. Moving out early and living in the capital offered me endless opportunities to broaden my horizons and engage with the art world. Berlin offered me a diverse and vibrant art scene, which significantly influenced my creative expression and approach to art. It also became increasingly clear to me that I wanted to gain a foot in the creative sector and combine multiple disciplines in my work. For this reason, I decided to apply to the FHTW (Fachhochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft). Luckily, I was accepted straight after my first attempt at the aptitude test and began to delve into the world of photography, illustration and graphics. The course also gave me a deeper insight into visual culture and its influence on society and the history of art and design. In my third year of studies, after my undergraduate degree, a very formative period began for me, in which I started to deal mainly with my own identity and position in this world. In the late 90s and early 2000s, I witnessed how a city like Berlin, which had been divided for years, was finally merging into one, a lot was in motion and many things that had seemed set in stone for so long were falling apart and beginning to redefine themselves. Of course that triggered something in me. …

All the interesting creative minds that were now settling in Berlin brought the world into my chosen home and I realized how much I wanted to belong to this universe. This ultimately confronted me with my own identity. Was I now Latina, Chilean, child of political refugees, East German, West German, German, European, foreigner? – There were so many labels and all of them were true and then there weren’t. It was time to take a different approach – and to research where it all began – my birth country, Chile. This first stay in South America was to be crucial for the rest of my creative development. In the almost two years I spent there, I got to know one of the most important muralists and urban artists and became a figurehead for Chile on my own. I began to take part in festivals and make a name for myself in the national scene. It was also in South America where I first perceived a sense of community around the fusion of art and activism.

The experience of bringing art into the public space and interacting directly with people touched me deeply from then on.  It was and still is, in my eyes, a powerful way to address social issues and achieve an immediate positive response. This experience had a lasting impact on my artistic direction and inspired me to make urban art and “artivism” my main form of artistic expression. This is how the idea for Project Wallflowers started to bloom.