Meet Arianna Ytselle Arelis

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Arianna Ytselle Arelis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Arianna Ytselle, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

When I think of the word resilence, I think of the women that raised me, my Mamá, my Nana, my sisters, my Tía’s who would babysit me growing up. I come from a line of strong woman and I pride myself in my independence. This world was built to favor men and yet the women in my life continue to rise. Strong woman aren’t born-they’re made. I owe it all to the sacrifices and troubles that they experienced. I grew up watching them not be affraid of anything and it has showed me how powerful and beautiful woman are.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a Digital and Film Chicana Photographer and my main focus is to capture the authencity of my culture in each photo I take. My family, my upbringing, my roots, are my biggest inspirations. I am a street photographer at heart and throughly enjoy finding beauty in the smallest of moments. I am privileged enough to be abel to visit Mexico often and capturing photos of the land that raised my parents is what brings me the most joy. I am currently working on my first zine and project that revolves around the photographs I take during my trips to Mexico. I have been keeping them to myself for some time but I’m finally ready to share them with the public. They are all pieces of me and I’m anticpating hosting a solo show soon,

I have spent the majority of the year holding space for other artists and currating art shows. I have recently dove into the world of curating and have found it to be the most rewarding thing that I have ever done. I have held 3 art shows in the past year and have showcased over a total of 60 different artists. I felt there was a need to support new artists- the same way I was welcomed into the San Diego art scene many years ago. My next group art show will be happening in Fall.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

By far the most important lessons I have learned throughout my artistic journey is to
1. Not compare yourself to others projects, acomplishments, wins, etc
2. Give yourself grace
3. In order to create- you also need to rest

I have dealt with imposter syndrome for the last couple of years and I feel 2024 is the first year I have really had a better grasp on it. It all comes down to giving myself grace. I truly believe hat there is room for every creative. I spent a lot of the time self sabotaging myself and not following through on my own creative deas because I felt that I wasn’t talented enough. I would compare myself to other artists wins. It was an hard place to be in mentally and learning to take care of myself and my body helped me step out of that mindset and be able to begin to execute all the projects that I plan on doing.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Although I always have friends to lean on when I am executing projects- I do my best work with others who also have the same drive as I do. I am currently making it a priorty to continue hosting and curating group art shows. There is so many things that go into throwing shows, from postering, to promoting on social media, finding a venue, looking for people to assist in installing. I am always happy to work with people who are willing to priortize holding space for new and upcoming artists. We need community to motivate us to keep going and that is precisely why these shows are so important. If anyone wants to work in bringing these ideas to life-please feel free and email me at arianna.ytselle@gmail.com .

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ariannaytselle.com
• Instagram: ariannaytselle
• Other: Tiktok: AriannaYtselle

Image Credits

All Photos by me, Arianna Ytselle