Being, Becoming – Visual Essay on Self-renewal, Creativity & Intuition

Being, Becoming is a personal essay on leaving corporate finance to pursue creative work. It explores healing and self-renewal through intuition, writing, and conceptual photography.

In 2023, I was gifted a book titled The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. At the time, I was working as a Financial Accounting Manager at a startup—immersed in fast-paced routines and structured outcomes.

The book challenged me to work differently. It introduced the concept of artistic play—a way of honoring intuition, fleeting emotions, and spontaneity. Practicing its core principles, I began noticing synchronicities: moments of unexpected alignment that brought a sense of clarity and affirmation to my daily life.

During this time, I also started creating visual forms through a concept I called “the state of being.” It refers to the visible and invisible spaces we occupy—moments acknowledged in their raw, unfiltered presence. Through this process, I allowed myself to uncover internalized experiences and meet my own fragility with honesty.

Reflecting on this journey today, I see a shift taking shape. I’m entering a new perspective—one that considers the transition toward becoming, and how that shift can only occur by being. These seemingly contrasting states move together. Through creative practice, I am becoming: listening to my child voice, reconnecting with my past through compassion, and stepping into the future with imagination and self-trust.

My artworks are momentary expressions—signposts in the unfolding journey of being, of becoming.

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Artist Bio and Statement

I'm an interdisciplinary artist and writer from Ethiopia, currently working between New York and London. My practice is rooted in a therapeutic approach to creation — a process of reflection and embodiment through which I transform internal dialogue and sensation into visual and narrative forms.

Through art-making and writing, I explore the intersection of mental and physical health — investigating how creative practice can support both personal healing and collective wellbeing. I’m especially drawn to the experiences of those navigating illness, cultural displacement, or the pressure to disconnect from themselves in order to survive. I draw inspiration from nature, literature, and neuroscience, weaving these with my lived experiences to explore identity, healing, and transformation.

At its heart, my work is an invitation to listen inward and imagine more tender, truthful ways of being present in our bodies.