Meet Anatola, the intuitive artist primed to change the world
This New Yorker has a SPARK in her art
Creativity can often be a fleeting element as many artists come of age and are forced into conformity, questioning the very gifts which they were born with. For the spiritual artist Anatola Araba Pabst, ignoring her intuition was never an option, as the talented artist is still coloring outside of the proverbial lines. Her creative range has proven to have no limits as she's produced works of visual art, photography, film and more. Currently a student at the renowned NYU Tisch, Anatola plans to use her gift as a vessel to inspire others and enact change worldwide. She found time in between her getaway in the lush jungles of Bali, Indonesia to talk to us about her art, and her mission.
1. You’ve always been in great touch with your intuition. Can you explain the relationship between your art and that place of inner knowing?
Intuition became my gateway into profound creativity at a very young age. There is no other way to tap into the part of you that can conceive of entire new stories, realities, and otherworldly dimensions to be illustrated through art without first quieting your mind and connecting with yourself to see how deep and vast you can make your vision go. To expand my intuition, I undertook formal meditation training in the Vedic tradition at the age of 16. This deepened my already consistent meditation practice.
"I have the power to speak to and land my message within the hearts and minds of people who are different from me."
For years I’ve sat silently for 20 minutes a day, twice a day. During this time I receive visions and bursts of creative inspiration, which have often translated into my most successful art projects to this day. Into my creations I would channel teachings from astrology to Tibetan mysticism, from the Tarot to the Yoga Sutras. My intuition was encouraged in my home as I grew up. In fact, my mom happens to be a professional psychic. She walked away from her 12 year career as a full-time professor of African-American literature at Harvard and Yale to pursue her calling as a intuitive educator, motivational speaker, and author. She has helped me navigate life’s deep questions with wisdom and grace, and has taught me to always consult my inner guidance before making choices. My connection to my inner knowing has greatly enhanced my art, and enabled me to have the discipline, willpower, and assurance to turn my creative visions into realities.
2. With your art being a form of communication, what are some messages you wish to convey?
Through my art, I wish to convey a message of oneness. That all people, and in fact "All that is," exists in a state of interconnectedness to everything else. I wish to provide tools for spiritual liberation; for relating gracefully across our differences; and for bringing more of a sense of wonder and magic into our lives. Art is a medium for communication. It offers ways to see the world that are completely new, transmitted from the mind of the artist to that of the viewer. With my art as a form of communication, I have the power to speak to and land my message within the hearts and minds of people who are different from me.
"My mom happens to be a professional psychic. She walked away from her 12 year career as a full-time professor of African-American literature at Harvard and Yale"
Through my art I am able to both express and drive home my message that every person—no matter what race, gender, sexuality, age, or background—is an instrumental part of an elaborate tapestry of human interconnectedness. My paintings and films illustrate what unites us all rather than portraying the various “divisions” we perceive where there are actually no divisions. The cause of our conflicts is that we believe in “separation” rather than “interconnection.” We believe in “we/they” when there is only “us.” I discovered my own spiritual identity through a process of struggling to find my place as an African-American woman growing up in a multiracial family. Being of African-American, Swedish-American, continental African, and Canadian descent (among other cultural influences), I was not rooted in “traditional black American culture.” But nor did I fit into the white culture which dominated the New York City schools I attended. The spiritual messages conveyed in my artwork double as teachings about a higher identity that we all share, a “truth of who we are” that exists beyond labels, limitations, and stereotypes. I chose to claim this identity rather than give power to the labels society tries to foist upon us. I wish to offer an invitation to anyone who is ready for it to transcend our designated categories. I wish to share what I’ve discovered—this sense of transcendence, peace, unity, and freedom—through my art.
3. Your artistic portfolio is quite diversified, having been involved in visual art, film etc. How do you choose which medium to create through when you get inspired?
There is an art to which medium I find myself working in. It’s more like there are seasons to my focus in each creative modality. In the sense of spending particular stretches of time in each, and also in the sense of a specific order and flow from one season into the next. Sometimes the seasons overlap and I’m working in more than one artistic vein at the same time, but usually the projects choose me in what feels to me like a synchronicity. There is a divine timing for each artistic modality I use and for each project I take on. In other words, there is intense focus on and true presence in each project I undertake. At the same time, there is a freedom and flexibility built into my role as an artist because I am not limited to just one or two art forms. Again, I experience it as if the art forms I am working in at any given time have chosen me every bit as much as I have chosen them.Diversity is my middle name. It’s all integrated seamlessly within me, as part of who I am. I am diversified in my artistic pursuits, and equally as diversified in my background and family heritage. I am African-American, but with a twist. My mother is half African-American and half Swedish-American. My biological father hails from Ghana, West Africa. I was raised by my mother and step-father who is half African-American and half Irish-American. My little brother has black features, golden-beige skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. My little sister is fair-skinned, with big brown eyes, and a head of cascading mulatto ringlets. My green-eyed, golden-haired mother was adopted by a white German father who was raised in Kenya until the age of 6, and a British Canadian mother. My family is nothing short of a multicultural soup. I feel deeply honored to have so many heritages and cultural influences to draw upon. My diversity makes me who I am as a person and as an artist. So it only makes sense that my creative modalities are tremendously diversified as well.
"The cause of our conflicts is that we believe in separation rather than interconnection."
I have always been committed to developing my skills and talents in a multitude of artistic mediums. I am equally passionate about painting, film and video, performing arts, and creative technology. My intention is to achieve the greatest level of mastery possible in each of these mediums. As a “multi-passionate artist,” it offers me freedom to know that I have many mediums through which I can fulfill my creative visions. I have been drawn to study portrait painting, drama, digital filmmaking, musical theater, and dance. I have always been studying one or more of these mediums for as long as I can remember. The specific art forms I am committed to have in common that each one of them grants me the power to build tangible pathways out of the gamut of social and cultural issues that plague our culture today. Each art form enables me to create a world of my own design, one full of beauty, wonder, and truth. I bring a piece of this transcendent world into every art piece I create.
4. As an activist, what issues are you passionate about?
I am an ambassador for oneness. I am a crusader for humanitarianism. I am an advocate for the honoring of Mother Earth. I pray to see a world where all races are valued, respected, and treated equally. I wish for a world where women are seen, heard, and valued. My sense is that we human beings will never truly honor one another in the way that is warranted until we can honor our Mother, this host planet of ours, this beautiful big, blue marble that is our shared home. One of the tangible ways our oneness is apparent in humanity is that we all share this planet. This is a powerful thing to have in common with every other person. I don’t see how freedom can be possible for human beings without our first committing to providing ourselves with a safe and sustainable planet to live on. The earth is our home and the only planet we have. My heart aches for these pressing issues of racial equality, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. I’m deeply passionate about coming up with creative solutions to these issues, and also to sharing my visions of positive transformation through my artwork.
5. What do you believe is the artists’ role in this often tumultuous world we inhabit?
The artists’ role is to be a leader and a visionary. The artist’s role is to color outside the lines, and by doing so, to establish more expanded, more fruitful, brand new lines. The artist’s role is to not only THINK outside the box, but to BE outside the box. Artists enable new conversations to be had, new perspectives to be shared, and offer new ways of seeing the world. An artist can hold a mirror up to society to force people to see something about themselves that they otherwise would refuse to see. An artist can also revolutionize our behavior to offer brand new ways of thinking, seeing, and being in the world.
6. How has your experience been at Tisch? We’ve heard some say that it nurtured them as an artist, and other say that it zapped their creative ambition.
Tisch has introduced me to an insanely powerful network of people who are passionate, creative, and highly motivated. I had two main advantages before I began my academic journey studying Film and TV at Tisch. The first is that in high school I had done NYU’s 12- week intensive, the “Future Filmmakers Workshop” as well as a 12-week digital filmmaking intensive at the New York Film Academy. The second advantage is that I gave myself the gift of a gap year before college. My gap year enabled me to grow, mature, and discover myself creatively. I created a collection of paintings, had my art shown in galleries and art shows throughout New York City, and worked completely on my own time and schedule. By the time I started college, I had experienced the beautiful version of freedom that being a full-time artist allows for. I was ready for the rigors of academia and for the challenges of Tisch, while also being determined to fully retain my creative self. I was ready and willing to be quiet and listen, as well as to be disciplined and focused. Studying at Tisch is showing me a structured, organized, and effective approach to creativity. I am beyond thankful to be living out my dream of being in this school and in this program.
"The artist’s role is to color outside the lines, and by doing so, to establish more expanded, more fruitful, brand new lines."
The season that I’m in as an artist requires me to be fully present to my many academic commitments. I still do, however, continue to create art outside my college experience. To give just one example, during my first year at Tisch, I collaborated on—and am featured in— a set of photos that are currently on display in the MoMA for a 6-month stretch. It’s a celebrated exhibit called “BEING: New Photography 2018” and our photos were discussed in some detail in the Wall Street Journal. The truth is that nothing will ever succeed in zapping my creative ambition.
7. What’s the mission of Facets media? What are some projects you’ve made and wish to make through your company?
Facets Media is a company I co-founded with a fellow artist and visionary, William Isaac Lockhart. We create film and video; host our own art events in New York City; and nurture a collective of artists, edge-makers, and influencers. Facets is still very much in the birthing stages. It is a dream I have had for a long time and it is exciting to be squarely in the process of turning it into a reality. Facets Media provides services for a hand-picked selection of visionaries, leaders, and change-makers. Our aim is to help people spread their world-changing messages masterfully and enticingly through media. We help them create inspirational videos, short films, graphic design, media content for websites, and film coverage of their live events. Many brilliant visionaries need help with the technology, visual design, and videography that is key for the sharing of their message. Facets Media fulfills this role. Though we are in our early stages, Facets Media has already shot a number of short film projects, teaching videos, and videos of live events. We have hosted a series of meet-ups, putting artists and edge-makers into contact with one other. You can follow our instagram, @facetsmedia to keep up to date on our most recent projects and to see how we continue to evolve.
8. Your belief is that imagination is the greatest tool of humanity correct? How do you plan to usher in more intuitive ways of thinking for up and coming young artists with your work?
Yes, I do believe imagination is the greatest tool of humanity. Imagination is the source of an artist’s power. Everything we see in the world around us that is a human creation—from buildings, to satellites, to solar panels, to rocket ships—is owed to the power of someone’s imagination. So much of what I have, personally, is owed to the depth of my imagination. Without this gift I would never have wound up with art in shows, galleries, and even museums like the MoMA. Without my imagination I would never have been able to create award-winning films. Without my imagination I wouldn’t be able to think up essays that get me good grades in college. One of my missions as an artist is to help make people more present to the vast power, the treasure trove that is our imagination. By extension, our utilizing more fully and deliberately the power of our imaginations would have a tremendous impact on the future of our world. Our imaginations can come up with anything. Certainly our imaginations can generate solutions to any social and environmental problem we are confronting. If more of us were to view our imagination as our greatest asset, we would be better positioned to then birth our brilliant ideas into reality. I fuel my own imagination by having a consistent meditation practice, eating nutritiously, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I want to use what I can create from my imagination to make this world a better place. My aim is to teach, heal, and inspire. My intention is to catalyze change.IG: @Anatolaaraba
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