Meet Cleo Peng

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cleo Peng. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cleo below.

Cleo, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

I’ve built my confidence by allowing myself to be fully who I am, without shrinking or performing for anyone else. The more I showed up as my real self, in how I think, create, communicate, and move through the world the more grounded I felt.

I also grew through learning new things and facing challenges instead of avoiding them. Every time I tried something unfamiliar, solved a problem, or worked through a difficult moment, it gave me a new sense of capability. Those small wins accumulated, and over time they became a much deeper trust in myself.

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’m an artist based in New York, and my work explores emotional interiority, the quiet, nuanced spaces where memory, identity, and feeling meet. I’m drawn to experiences that don’t always have language, and I use imagery, movement, and atmosphere to express those states in a way that feels honest and intuitive.

My practice shifts between photography, motion, and abstraction, but the through-line is always emotion: longing, transformation, closeness, distance. I’m interested in the small moments that shape us and the versions of ourselves we carry.

Right now I’m working on a new body of work exploring how identity moves through cycles of stillness and change. It’s more open and tender than anything I’ve made before, and I’m excited to share it soon.

Ultimately, my work is about giving form to the internal world — creating visual moments that feel familiar, human, and quietly resonant.

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?

1. Observation

Observation has been foundational for me, not just looking, but really seeing. The way someone shifts their weight when they’re unsure, how light changes a room, the emotional residue of a moment. These details shape the emotional world I work from.

Advice: Slow down and pay attention. Treat your surroundings, your relationships, and even your own internal reactions as material. The more you observe with softness and curiosity, the richer your work becomes.

2. Emotional Awareness

Understanding my inner life, even the parts that feel uncomfortable or hard to name — has been essential. My work grows out of that internal clarity.
Advice: Build practices that help you hear yourself: journaling, stillness, honest reflection. Your emotional world is a skillset, and the more fluent you become in it, the more depth your work will hold.

3. Patience With Process

So much of the creative journey is nonlinear. There are stretches of stillness and stretches of intensity, and both have value.

Advice: Allow your process to unfold without rushing it. Give ideas time to breathe. Growth often happens quietly, long before you can articulate it.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

Over the past year, my biggest area of growth has been learning how to truly find my own center. I realized that I’m the only person fully responsible for shaping my daily life. Creating meaning, building routines, setting goals, and making my world enjoyable. There’s no one to outsource that to, and instead of feeling daunting, it’s become grounding.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cleopeng.art/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleo.peng/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cleo-peng-177b491a0/

Image Credits

None