Crafting Genuine Connections

I’m Andriana, a multidisciplinary artist based in NY. 

My passion and expertise are telling stories about people, places, and cultures. I left Moldova at 23 to immigrate to the US right after completing my studies. Economics gave me a comprehensive worldview and understanding of market forces; it gifted me with a valuable perspective on things because economics affects every aspect of a person’s life. I wanted to know the people behind the data and see how the numbers translated in their daily life. Photography was my medium.

Working across multiple areas of focus within the photographic landscape ranging from complex production shoots to 1:1 intimate portraits, people, their stories, and the relationship established between us marked me the most, their effect rippling into who I am and my creative vision. In this process, I understood that each story needs a different medium and I pursued immersive and interactive technologies to augment my craft.

In telling stories, what matters is not what they are created with, but how they are communicated, i.e. what tools better serve, facilitate, and translate the narratives into a direct and powerful user experience. Drawing from my mindfulness expertise, many of my projects — whether created in traditional film, virtual reality, experiential performances, computational language, product, or exhibition design — embody a therapeutic, people-centered, and multi-sensory approach to storytelling leaning heavily into experiential design.

My fascination with exhibition design is for its multilayered and multileveled capacity to communicate complex stories through multiple creative mediums and design systems to create a strong emotional impact. “Emotion,” writes neuroscientist Francisco Mora, “is the key to our curiosity, attention, learning, and memory.” When exhibitions are created effectively, it is a powerful tool to engage the visitors in an incredible process of learning, discovery, and awe, creating memorable experiences as well as inspiring and affecting people to action, potentially even to change.

I believe designing for impact is a RESPONSIBILITY as much as it is a creative act. At the heart of my storytelling and artistic practice is always the community and beyond any of my mediums of engagement, what is of utmost importance is celebrating the humanity we all share and the relationship we are able to establish and foster.

In every collaboration, whether in a teaching capacity, in documenting stories, or executing a creative vision using technology, what I bring to the table is a deep care for people, a sincere appreciation for the creative act and learning, a multidisciplinary approach to storytelling, an extraordinary spirit of cooperation to the team environment, strong leadership skills, and a fierce dedication to the labor that needs to be done for the sake of the work we set out to do and in service of the vision we collectively aim to execute.