Art At Work: Pride Month
Meet Carmela
Art At Work: Pride Month
Meet Carmela
Born in Brazil and currently residing in Barcelona, illustrator Carmela Caldart is constantly at work creating meaningful and expressive art work. As part of our Art at Work initiative, we saw no better fit to create a line of pieces for Pride Month than Carmela. Capturing important messages in her artwork, Carmela is drawn to the intimacy and expression of illustration. Having fostered a passion and talent for her artwork since a young age, Carmela has turned her love of illustration into a full-time career.
Born in Brazil and currently residing in Barcelona, illustrator Carmela Caldart is constantly at work creating meaningful and expressive art work.
As part of our Art at Work initiative, we saw no better fit to create a line of pieces for Pride Month than Carmela. Having fostered a passion and talent for her artwork since a young age, Carmela has turned her love of illustration into a full-time career.
Carmela Caldart
"Inclusion is beyond just illustrating people of different skin tones and different body types. I think it’s more about empathy and being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and really being able to understand someone else’s point of view."
What inspires you to create your work?
It’s almost an unconscious experience, I’ve been drawing since I was a child. Following that passion I chose the creative path with my studies starting with graphic design which wasn’t incredibly fulfilling for me. I missed drawing, creating, and expressing something more personal. My creative process revolves around what I’m feeling, I try not to overthink before I start drawing. I try to let my art express itself, I think that subconsciously what I’m feeling, and what’s going on in the world around me presents itself through my artwork.
What inspires you to create your work?
It’s almost an unconscious experience, I’ve been drawing since I was a child. Following that passion I chose the creative path with my studies starting with graphic design which wasn’t incredibly fulfilling for me. I missed drawing, creating, and expressing something more personal. My creative process revolves around what I’m feeling, I try not to overthink before I start drawing. I try to let my art express itself, I think that subconsciously what I’m feeling, and what’s going on in the world around me presents itself through my artwork.
What impact has the LGBTQ+ community had on you and your work?
When I was starting out in illustration, I think it was really beautiful and helpful to see other LGBTQ+ artists making incredible and impactful work. And where I am now, I feel so privileged and happy to be able to share my work and myself with my community and feel the support and encouragement that they're always so generous with. I feel like the LGBTQ+ community is incredibly open and supportive, and always advocating for and fighting for each other, and it's wonderful to be a part of such a wonderful community. I hope people can identify with and get a little joy from my work.
What is your definition of diversity and inclusion?
For me, it’s beyond just illustrating people of different skin tones and different body types. I think it’s more about empathy and being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and really being able to understand someone else’s point of view. I think that’s the basic idea, sometimes we get stuck in our own bubble and become closed off to anything else, so I really think it’s about opening up and embracing the differences between people.
What message do you hope to convey through your art?
The message of my art is something that I develop retrospectively. After I create my pieces, I tend to look back on them and reflect on what they mean. I started noticing that I create a lot of women with a lot of diversity, who are usually very large figures. I want to really focus on the power of women and the beauty of diversity and inclusion. I like creating these powerful women who take up space, who are not small, quiet or timid, which is funny because I feel that I am those things.
“A Heart” is a piece depicting a woman with a heart tattoo on her arm with a rainbow behind her. That’s a piece that I had previously created that really resonated with the Wondery team.
With “Freedom” I wanted to focus on the presence of women in nature. I wanted to make these figures big, present, strong and proud, especially in space where they’re underrepresented.
One of the most exciting projects I've worked on was for the Barcelona City Council, for their International Women's Day campaign 2020. It was incredible to work on a project that revolved around feminism, and to be able to spread my illustrations of strong, powerful women all over the city of Barcelona.
What advice do you have for other aspiring artists?
I think I would tell them to give themselves time. In your art, and in life in general it just takes time to figure out who you are and what you want to say. Like I said, sometimes you make things without knowing what you’re trying to say, but then you look back and realize the message afterwards. I would also tell them to make a lot of personal work. Keep exploring different ideas and styles and making mistakes. When you become an artist, there can be pressure to just create pieces for your clients, but you need to remember to keep exploring and expressing yourself as well.
This new line of our Art at Work collection perfectly captures the love we share for all women in our ever-growing community. We are so excited and honored to be able to share that love with you, and hope that this collection shines a light on the dark areas of society. We thank you for your continued support of our mission!