Natalia Villanueva Linares: Winner of the 2021 NOT REAL ART Grant for Artists

Today’s guest is the amazing Natalia Villanueva Linares, one of our 2021 NRA grant winners! Natalia hails from Peru and France and is now residing in Chicago. She is an installation and performance artist specializing in space understanding. Our conversation begins with Natalia describing a decade long-project she has been working on involving revamping a church in Illinois and making it a cultural center hosting community artworks and an international residency program. From there we hear more about Natalia’s work and what her concerns with space understanding mean, where she talks about how she tries to connect people, spaces, culture, and history through her multimedia artworks. We also hear about another of Natalia’s powerful and sublime works today, a traveling participatory performance piece called Soulutions, where she collaboratively creates healing potions with audiences around the world. In this conversation, we also get into Natalia’s self-care practices involving her love of colorful foods, the different energies her parents bring into her process, and her thoughts on the inclusivity and transparency of the NRA family. Be sure to catch this one! Key Points From This Episode: Natalia’s gratitude for winning the NRA grant and her experiences applying for past grants. The community art project Natalia curated centering around a church she bought in Chicago. Challenges of funding and sustaining the project leading to the church exchanging hands. Nadia talks about how her work deals with ‘space understanding’; connecting people and space. Perspectives on the unseen aspects of artworks being what makes them powerful. The meaning of the relationship between effort and simplicity in a work’s effect on people for Natalia. Natalia’s perspectives on mass production in art and the role of art more generally. Making potions to heal ‘the uncurable’: Natalia weighs in on her Soulutions project. Natalia’s extremely productive nature and how the pandemic has shifted her into a more focused mode. Natalia’s methods for taking care of herself and love for eating colorful, nutritious food. The early experiences Nadia had of her artistic voice and when she found it fully later in life. How Natalia’s parents met and the role each of them plays in her creative process. Sourdough’s experiences in Peru while he was traveling as a 25-year-old. Natalia’s experiences in the NRA selection process and Sourdough’s intentions for the project. For more information, visit: https://notrealart.com/natalia-villanueva-linares