From Brasil to Barcelona, with stops at the Venice Biennale, Marina Esmeraldo’s creative journey is as vibrant as her use of color. An artist and illustrator with a background in architecture and a distinctly multidisciplinary approach, her work explores intuition, memory, and the ability of art to expand beyond the page. In this conversation, she reflects on her path, the lessons learned, and how Elisava played a key role in helping her trust her creative process.

When did you realize that illustration was the field where you could bring together all your artistic interests?

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was browsing a design blog I had followed for years, late one night in 2013, when I came across a series of editorial illustrations for Mr. Porter. They looked a lot like the drawings I used to make as a teenager. For my brain, it was a key moment of expansion — one of those “AHA!” moments,when I realized that if this person could get paid for their drawings, then I could illustrate too. When I started studying architecture ten years earlier, I had no idea illustration could be a viable career. At that moment, I finally connected the dots, and from then on I did everything I could to understand how the industry worked, build my portfolio, make contacts, and establish a freelance career. The beautiful part is that, over the years, the path of professional creativity has revealed many other ways of expressing myself beyond drawing.

Your work combines digital illustration, art, photography, and even poetry. How do you manage and nurture such a multifaceted career?

I used to feel a lot of anxiety about being so multifaceted and not fitting neatly into a specific label, but multidisciplinarity is stronger than me — I can’t control it, and I’ve stopped trying. Labels are a capitalist creation that limit human expression. More and more, I’m convinced that if we want to build a better, more tolerant, and more equal world, it’s important that humans can give light to the creativity they carry in their soul.

You’ve exhibited in places as different as the Venice Biennale and global digital platforms. What does this international recognition mean to you?

It’s funny because it’s part of human nature to forget our achievements and always want more, often forgetting that recognition has to come from within. But for me, these are reminders — in the moments when I forget and doubt my own ability — of what I’ve already accomplished and how far I can go. And that all of this is only the beginning.

What has been the most transformative project of your career so far?

All of my personal projects have been transformative because they come from a place of pure curiosity, from parts of my subconscious that ask for personal growth, and when I start them, I can hardly imagine where they’ll take me. I’d probably say my art book SOUVENIRS, because it was such a complete and long project. It forced me to face and transmute my inner demons, and it showed me just how far I could go.

Looking back, what lessons from Elisava still accompany you in your day-to-day life as a creator?

At Elisava I learned to trust my creativity and to understand my own ideation processes. It was the space where I could explore my multidisciplinary side, give shape to my imagination, and discover what I could achieve with guidance and resources. That foundation continues to guide my work every single day.