We’re looking forward to introducing you to Diego García. Check out our conversation below.
Diego, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
Silly as it may sound, I’m currently chasing a bird called the Black-crowned night heron. This animal has evaded me for almost six years, despite being fairly common and other people (friends included) being able to successfully find individuals of the species. Finding this bird has thus become a bit of a holy grail quest for me. However, I think if I stopped the chase, I’d probably fixate on another bird to search for.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am primarily an illustrator, and most of my brand circles around illustration. As for what kind of illustration, I focus primarily on advertising illustration and educational children’s illustration. In previous years, my branding was more general, focusing more on the wonder of childhood, using the imagination, and generally just presenting a message of being deliberately weird. In recent times, however, this has been narrowed down, and although the messages are still there, they’re presented through the lens of a particular passion of mine: ornithology. While it’s less obvious in my advertising work, a lot of my brand content revolves around birds; my brand name is Feddur Illustrations (a distortion of the word “feather”), I use a feather as my logo, and I’ve recently developed an online project where I publicly share educational content centered around birds. I guess that’s what makes my brand stand out from others, since I’m still sharing my ideas of childhood and whimsy through a theme that a lot of people can easily recognize but still be interested by. And of course, my style has changed drastically over time, as now I lean more towards embracing an aesthetic that might look unconventional but allows me to stick out more easily.
This brand has recently branched out to photography as well (bird photography, of course), and keeping true to my interests, I’ve been able to combine this interest with my educational content. Thus, I’ve been able to teach people about the wonders of our avian friends through photography and illustration combined.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
I can’t say there’s one exact person who shaped me into the person I see myself as, since I see it more like a domino effect of meeting the right people in sequence that helped me build my own image. If I had to pick just one, I would say one of my professors in college left a big impact on my life, because through him, I was able to break out of my shell and be more confident about who I was, even if I was seen as unconventional. This mentality was often put to the test in different environments, but thanks to this professor I’ve been able to bounce back from any issues I’ve had with how I perceive myself. And the best part is I feel like the way I see myself gets better over time as I reflect on who I want to be, and I can feel that change.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Recently, I was inadvertently led to believe that I wasn’t a good presence to have and thus wasn’t supposed to be here. This stung even harder because it stemmed from an issue I believed had been cleared long before this incident happened and I was also struggling with feelings of inadequacy, so having this nerve struck meant that I put no resistance against the spiral that came afterwards, and whatever spark I had left to keep going was doused. It was a very heavy blow, heavier than anything I’ve ever experienced before, but in that haze I was lucid enough to call for help. I can’t say I’ve fully healed from this incident, as it still sits in recent memory, but I have learned to accept it for what it is, and I’ve come to understand that I am not defined by what happened in the past. There’s no going back, so I just have to gather the pieces and keep moving forward.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a belief you used to hold tightly but now think was naive or wrong?
I used to believe that people needed to provide some kind of service to be accepted. Though it was easier to drop this unhealthy mindset when it came to other people, I had a hard time living with the fact that I could be loved for who I was, not strictly because of the things I do. So for the longest time, I would overexert and be strict with myself, take any mistakes I made personally, see myself as useless, and overall try to justify my existence by trying to be a productive member of society. It even got to the point that, when faced with a misfortune out of my control, I’d find a way to shift the cause of it to me. This is admittedly something I’m not fully over, but I at least am at the point where I can easily acknowledge that this is a very harmful mentality to have. Obviously, it’s good to contribute and help others when needed, but you also have to take care of yourself first, and you can’t do that if you’re putting everything else before your wellbeing. Also, I may not understand why people like me for being myself (yet), but I can at least accept and cherish it, something I’ve been doing a lot lately.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If immortality were real, what would you build?
Parting from the premise that I can live long enough to learn advanced engineering and all the other tools needed for this, I would build a massive bird sanctuary that would host and protect a myriad of different species under one colossal roof. This place would have multiple rooms of incredible size dedicated to simulating different biomes to make sure the birds live comfortably, as well as provide amenities that would help them remain active and healthy. Birds that are injured could also be brought to this sanctuary to be treated and then released, while endangered species could be helped to reach stable populations in these enclosed ecosystems. Ideally, I would have amassed a fortune by living forever, so I’d have a bunch of people helping me maintain this place and the birds, which would thrive in this protected space. I would call it the Ornithorium.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.feddur-illustrations.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feddurs_feathers/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-garc%C3%ADa-b12421254/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/feddur_illustrations/
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
