The Art of Seeing Beyond
- Svetlana Aguilera Horta
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Always reaching for light, for stories, for the spaces between: I was born with curiosity in my hands. My journey as an artist began long before I ever called it "art". It began with observation, with watching people, their emotions, their silence, their resilience.
I grew up between different worlds, cultures, and identities. That in-between space shaped the way I see. It taught me that truth rarely lives in one place. It exists in the tension between contrasts: strength and softness, control and surrender, beauty and imperfection.
For me, art became a language to express what words could not - a space where emotion, memory, and movement coexist. Over the years, I found myself drawn again and again to women: their faces, their stories, their strength. Women who hold the world together quietly, without applause. Women who rebuild, who endure, who remain gentle even when life demands otherwise.
That is why «From Different Angle» was born, a series devoted to the idea that beauty is not defined by perfection but by presence. By what lives beneath the surface. By what we see when we truly look.
“Art, for me, is not about creating perfection. It’s about creating connection - between souls, between stories, between moments that refuse to fade.”
My process reflects that same belief. I work with movement and long exposure, allowing the camera to move with me, not to capture control but to surrender to emotion. Every image becomes a dialogue between motion and stillness, between the visible and the felt. Later, these moments transform through layers of paint and texture, creating surfaces that are alive, tactile, and imperfect - much like the stories they carry.
But my art has never existed in isolation. It’s deeply tied to my connection with people, especially with those whose voices are too often unheard.
Since 2014, I have been working in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages Worldwide, a collaboration that has profoundly shaped both my art and my heart. Entering the world of children - their dreams, their struggles, their resilience - changed the way I see humanity. When I photograph or paint them, I don’t see vulnerability alone; I see courage, creativity, and the purest form of hope.
These experiences remind me that art and empathy are inseparable. Creation without compassion is empty, and that the role of an artist is not only to reflect beauty but to give space to truth even when it is fragile or uncomfortable.
Today, my work stands at the intersection of emotion, movement, and story. Each piece is a fragment of my own journey and of the people who have crossed my path. Every layer, every blurred line, every trace of color carries a memory - of strength, of longing, of transformation.
What I hope for, through all of this, is simple: that my art invites you to look again. To see not just what is visible, but what is alive. Because only when we dare to look beyond the surface do we begin to truly see.
From Different Angle
Let’s meet in a space where vulnerability is welcome, where art speaks, and where presence matters.
«From Different Angle» tells stories about strength in stillness. And beauty in what dares to be fragile. In my new series, I explore the many faces of feminine strength. Not through loudness or perfection, but through truth. Through softness. Through the silent resilience that allows us to carry cracks, flaws, and tenderness - all at once.
Each artwork begins with a fleeting moment I capture, often in motion, and transform onto canvas. Layer by layer, with pigments and mixed materials, I build depth and movement.
The surface breathes. The story unfolds. Each piece becomes a living, emotional original.
I’m honoured to present this work in Zurich on Thursday, November 13 at 19:00 and again on Saturday, November 15 from 12:00 at Galerie am Lindenhof, Pfalzgasse 3, 8001 Zürich.
