Moon Child
A conversation with creative Granila Santisteban about dualities, beauty and experimentation.
Influenced by the evolution of consciousness and the moon as a symbol of cycles and dualities, Granila Santisteban is a Mexican creative who blends her expertise in literature, painting and interior design to materialize her ideas through unique handmade mirrors. After following her work in Social Media for some time, We The Cool Magazine reached out Granila to talk about her pieces and the role that creative journeys have relocating us in life, setting guidelines in history and giving us hope, encouragement and inspiration.
Karen Santos: How did growing up around the desert of northern Mexico influenced your career and the style of your pieces?
Granila Santisteban: It may seem like a coincidence but I was always surrounded by my raw material, although I was never aware that I could use it.
Karen: Do you identify more as a designer or as an artist?
Granila: Art has always been there. All my life, I saw my mother painting, making clothes and writing. However, I appreciated it until later. When I started to feel the need of bringing out what I felt inside, I turned to literature, where I would read what was going through my head. This is how I started to paint. I wanted the words to stay with me in order to interpret the images. During my degree in interior design, I worked on the development of beauty language and I can say that in the end, even though my art teachers didn't take attendance, I was always there, on a Friday night and with a coffee in my hand to find out more about that world.
“More than a designer or an artist, I identify myself as creative.”
Karen: Most of your pieces are interventions in mirrors. Could you tell us how this object became your principal tool? What other materials have you experimented with?
Granila: The initial idea was in MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) and then I started experimenting with mirrors because I immersed myself into the idea that "we are always in front of ourselves", and that each person we meet is here to teach us something about ourselves. This is a constant reminder I have towards myself. I also believe in making peace with what we see in the reflection, with oneself. These two things lead us to ourselves. I was seeing more of myself through something and/or someone.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Karen: On your Instagram we found a compilations of texts written by you and a strong influence on photography. What inspired you to practice these disciplines?
Granila: Photography has always hidden unseen words and I really like to steal these moments by documenting and remembering them. I believe that something well-lived will never be missed if you give yourself the opportunity to feel it all. Writing is explaining, it’s showing what someone feels. I cannot imagine how it would be not having these two as complementary forms of expression.
“Everything can inspire you if you have your eyes wide open to find those signs of beauty.”
Karen: The moon is a universal feminine symbol representing the rhythm of time, as it embodies the cycle. In numerous cultures, the phases of the moon symbolize immortality and eternity, enlightenment or the dark side of nature itself. What analogy does the moon carry for you in your daily life and in your work?
Granila: My story with the moon was born with experimentation even though it was never my intention to create something like that. I became familiar and delved into the subject as I worked more on the project which started five years ago. The moon helped me to know myself more because for me, human beings have phases and dualities as well.
Photos via IG: @granilasantisteban
Karen: Could you take us to your studio and describe its atmosphere?
Granila: Mornings smell like coffee. As I’m back to oil, it often smells of solvent and wood. The heart feels at sea level. My studio is planned to be barefoot so you can feel cold. The one who arrives, wants to be reflected in the hanging mirrors. It tastes like mint, copal and skin-colored boxes. There are plants thirsty for attention every night, there is a moon on the balcony and the sun dies in the lagoon. Oh, and there is also my little dog who always expects caresses.
Karen: During your creative process, from the concept development to the final result, artists go through a wide range of feelings. What stimulates your creativity?
Granila: I have found a way to make the concept of my work feel real because at the end of the day that’s what I am: the one who is always looking at the sky and seeing myself to know what happens to me and why. Many times all of this is related to the energy of the moon, and I do better when I follow it’s rhythm.
“I feel creatively motivated when I’m in contact with nature, when seeing what artists do and think, reading, and also when I surround myself with creative friends.”
Karen: What do you think is the value of art and design during times of crisis? Just like the ones we faced at the beginning of the pandemic.
Granila: I'm very curious about what creatives have done these last two years. Without being able to go elsewhere, we had to go inside ourselves and rediscover ourselves, have that time to put value on things, and we have felt everything in this uncertainty. I think the best harvests have come out in these times. At least that is happening to me and thanks to that and other events, I have discovered myself and recognized in other facets that I like as a result of this necessary pause.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.