We recently connected with Melissa Godoy Nieto and have shared our conversation below.
Melissa, 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?
I don’t see myself as the most resilient person, but I think my resilience comes both from personal experiences since I was a child, and also from a regular practice. There are times where I don’t feel resilient at all, I have my days or weeks when I feel defeated and drained, I feel it, I cry it, and then I remind myself this is part of the process, part of life and of being an artist. Also I need to have moments of rest, connect with nature…going to the coast of Oaxaca really helps me. I find strength again to keep pushing forward and feel motivated and positive again. Once I feel positive, I believe everything is possible and realize there are different paths to continue this career and lifestyle. I often tell myself, if nature is resilient, then I can too, if other people in more difficult situations are resilient, then I can too. But definitely time to rest, recover, swim in saltwater looking at fish and corals, connect with a place where I can see animals (not only dogs,) and feel inspired again is all a must.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m an artist, I’m from Mexico, I was born in Tijuana and grew up in Culiacan Sinaloa, and I’ve been living in NYC for 17 years. Now I split my time between New York City and Oaxaca, with studios in both places, and at times I spend parts of the year in Italy as my partner is Italian.
My art practice (right now) mainly includes textiles, drawing, painting, installation, and performance. I’m a very curious artist so I’m constantly making new work, experimenting, changing, adding materials, processes, collaborations. I tend to come up with projects that involve some research on a specific subject or story, or something I experienced myself. I’ve done projects about the subconscious, identity, adaptation, transformations, immigration, and environmental stewardship. I’m very interested in the relationship we have with nature, with culture, and the environment in general. I like immersing myself in subjects related to the natural world, and very recently, in a conversation with a friend she made me realize that I am attracted to “vanishing” things, perhaps it’s the before and after, the history of things, or the nostalgia and struggles of something changing or disappearing. This is something we are experiencing a lot more with climate change and immigration, so I guess they end up in my art.
I would say I currently make work with both abstract and figurative/representational imagery, and there’s usually something that involves a social, political, or environmental issue. I just exhibited new work in two art fairs, one in Mexico City and one in Los Angeles. And I’m about to start working on a short film that has been in my mind for a few years, let’s see how that goes.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
In my case, it took me a long time to accept myself as an artist. Once I embraced this term, but mainly this life path, I was able to unblock many parts of me and my art practice. After this, I started to have more fun and it helped me to see it as a long term thing. I began to feel less rushed in some aspects, becoming more patient that things will happen at the right time, but also accepting that the path of being an artist is a difficult one, and I am making a conscious choice to go for it. My advice would be to work on acceptance early on, I wish I had done this before than when I did.
Another skill that’s essential for me is adaptability, I find it completely necessary in my area of work, in the way I develop things, make art, exhibit it. I feel I’ve always been generally good at adapting, to people, to places, but sometimes I still have to push myself. With work, not everything will always go as planned or the way you initially envisioned it, when there are other people involved you have to negotiate or compromise. But if you adapt, things will flow, and you’ll be surprised that things end up working out. I also think adaptability has helped me make art part of my life no matter what, when, or where, if I have a big or small space to do it, if I’m in a good or bad financial state, if my materials don’t exist in a specific place—I just make art in all those circumstances.
This is quite obvious I think, but it also took me a while to develop. To know and understand your work, and to know how to communicate it verbally. I’m really bad at writing and articulating my thoughts in relation to my art (that’s why I do it visually) so I still struggle with this, but I used to be much worse. I think it’s important to start developing this quality early on. Years ago, when I was not accepting myself as an artist this was blocking me from understanding in more depth my art practice. I’m still terrible at writing about it when it’s for proposals, grants, that kind of thing, but I feel quite comfortable talking about it in a more casual setting. I’ve come to understand and see some of the patterns in my process and my finished work, the themes that I’m attracted to and why, how I work, etc. So, now I can talk more comfortably and confidently about it.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
I would just move immediately to the coast of Oaxaca and/or the Mediterranean coast, build myself a humble house with a big art studio. I would plant trees with my favorite foods: lime, lemon, coconut, corn, mango, papaya, guava, avocado, jicama, tomatoes, orange, bergamot, passionfruit, figs, cherries, garlic, and olives. This way I make sure I eat my favorite things before my last decade ends. I would also invite friends to come and create for periods of time, kind of like an artist residency but with all family and friends since they are all spread around the world. I would just enjoy coastal life, make art and try not to worry about making money with art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melissagodoynieto.com
- Instagram: @mgodoynieto
Image Credits
Raquel Duron, Thomas Hoepker, Melissa Godoy Nieto
