POST 9 ARTIST STATEMENT AND BIO - MARYANA SOTO

 Artist Statement

I’m drawn to the quiet connections in everyday life. The textures of Peruvian textiles, and the unspoken stories between humans and animals. My work blends illustration, editorial design, and storytelling to explore themes of emotion, identity, and cultural memory. Through thoughtful composition and color, I aim to create pieces that are both personal and inviting.

At its core, my practice is about intimacy: the way a pet’s playful nudge can feel like a secret language, or how a folk tale’s pattern holds generations of memory. I’m drawn to the narratives often dismissed as "too small". The care in grooming a ferret’s fur, the rhythm of a shared glance, the warmth of handmade crafts carried across borders. Through zines, illustrated guides, and narrative-driven print media, I bridge information and feeling, crafting pieces that are as tender as they are tactile.

Peru lives in my hands. The ochres of its landscapes, the geometry of its textiles, the layered histories in its artifacts. They echo in my color palettes, textures, and the way I balance spontaneity with structure. I reimagine these traditions not as artifacts, but as living conversations: What does it mean to carry a culture forward? How can a single thread connect a childhood memory to a fresh composition?

Process is my anchor. I sketch obsessively, collect fragments of handwritten notes, and let layouts evolve like collages. Sometimes meticulous, sometimes messy, always honest. The best designs, to me, feel like a shared confession: Look closer. This matters.

If my work has a purpose, it’s to make the ordinary glow. A ferret’s yawn, a frayed edge on fabric, a folktale retold in riso ink. These are my love letters to a world that often overlooks its own poetry.

BIO

Maryana Soto is a Peruvian visual designer and storyteller splitting her time between sketchbooks, risograph prints, and ferret mischief. Born and raised in Peru and now based in the U.S., she’s pursuing her BFA in Design while weaving her heritage into every project whether it’s through the vibrant colors of Andean textiles, the rhythm of folk tales, or the quiet joy of documenting life with her two pet ferrets.

Her work lives where emotion meets structure: illustrated zines about small acts of care, editorial layouts that feel like handwritten letters, and designs that treat cultural memory as something alive, not archival. She’s particularly obsessed with the stories we overlook like how a ferret’s curiosity can teach us about attention, or how a single pattern can hold generations of meaning.