Meet Katy Beltrán | Visual Artist, Organizer, Non-Profit Founder.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katy Beltrán and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katy, how do you think about risk?
As a human being I oscillate on a daily basis between life and death. Taking decisions, missing chances or sacrificing something very precious for the greater good. Risk, is one of the most essential components of life, and the very way I use to proof myself truly free from earthy attachments. In my own career as an artist, I have risked a life of confort to be push towards struggles and challenges of unknown outcomes instead. Always knowing where to go but never where I am going to end up being. Going against the wold’s voices to follow my own is not an easy task, sometimes the biggest risk of all, but the only one truly fulfilling. To me there are just two paths, one on the way to yourself, and another one of servitude to the wold’s demands. I left my country, my family including my 4 years old daughter and a life of predictable outcomes to find a better future for all of us in the US. The fear of being alone for the first time in a completely new country and a broken English wasn’t bigger than my fear of never taking action and changing the situation that we were in. Choosing to get a Master’s degree in Arts while having to provide for my mom and daughter was also not the easiest path but the only that will last. Fulfilled and victorious humans bring victory to the world too.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am an active observer, organizer and a visual creator. I came to photography over 8 years ago, because I want to communicate indescribable things with images, just like great poets do with words. I believe images and stories are the cast and the shaping tool of the world. They are a celebration of our consciousness and a manifestation of our transient but collective existence. Photography is born out of this need to apprehend the world and manifest it. I use light as my source material because the element surpasses a single metaphor and depending on how much presence or absence of it there is before our very eyes, all things take on a different form. I am interested in this multiplicity of views of a single element and the reconciliation of the paradox of light and darkness as an indissoluble relationship. My artwork reflects on my being as a woman in a man made world and the discoveries I have made along with fiercely forging a path back to the root. What it means to be human, a mortal body with pains and pleasure, and what it means to be a woman?, this are some of the questions I have ask myself from very early age, and what has brought me to follow a creative career as an artist/activist. I have learn to understand the creative process as a way to reinvent myself constantly, and the identity as something totally fluid. There is always more that a single point of view on a single thing. My way to overcome challenges in my life has always been to go in the direction of my fears, to face the uncomfortable, the hidden parts of myself, to liberate my own being from idealism’s and expectations, let go of control while understanding who I really am. I would like the world to know that we are all the same kind, no matter in what place you were born in, at the roots of our hearts lies a Universal Being looking for unconditional love and most importantly ACCEPTANCE. Also, I want to show that at the end there is no one to fight or go against more than one’s own self, and that when we learn to love ourselves without shame, or guilt, then we are able to see the love, beauty and dignity in others too. Without this condition I believe we are destined to live unfulfilling lives out of our true purpose, as humans with no humanity.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them first to a beautiful getaway in the woods, and multiple walks to creeks and rivers. Outdoor fire, group cooking, wine and many people’s stories unfolding across the room. Some other day we would go to ride bikes and scooters on the bet line, and make a couple of stops to get drinks and local food. With my artist friends museums are required. Maybe renting a comfy house for a game night. Everyone is exciting in the city! So, I would take them to many of the most local and DIY places in the city to appreciate art, music, and hopefully very soon DANCE!.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My success is entirely dedicated to the women of this man made world, and their courage to thrive and fight towards freedom. To the insatiable love that makes us to stand up and start all over and over again. To my wonderful daughter who exposes my fragilities and strengths, and teaches me that compassion starts with us first, that we are survivors. To my husband, for being a true feminist, and show me that unconditional love truly exist. To the memory of Audre Lorde and all female writers that allow us to feel represented and validated in our heart. To those female leaders who are not afraid to be fierce, erotic, and out of main stream because is just them who open up new paths for us and future generations to walk free and with dignity. To all women organizers and organizations defending women’s right such us SISTERLOVE, INC in Atlanta, who have allowed me to do meaningful work and inspire me to keep our organizing efforts towards freedom. To the women who sacrifice their own happiness for love to other and the ones who are awake but still choose to be silent, I wish their voices to be loudly heard and rumble in our hearts for ever.

Website: www.katybeltran.com

Instagram: @beltran.katy

Linkedin: Katy Beltran

Facebook: Katy Beltran