Reflections
Reflections
Salomé Gómez-Upegui
Reflections with Salomé Gómez-Upegui is a podcast about creative alignment. Blending personal insights and conversations with guests, I consider how we connect to our creative selves, devote our lives to what we love, practice discipline, move through doubt, and attune to the divine.
Hilma’s Ghost on Feminist Mysticism
For more than five years, Hilma’s Ghost has fostered learning initiatives and community-building practices that bridge art, mysticism, and feminism. Founded by artists Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray, the collective takes its name from Hilma af Klint, the Swedish mystic and pioneering abstract artist. Yet their mission reaches far beyond her legacy: to reckon with patriarchal art histories and reclaim spirituality as a site of empowerment and liberation.In this episode, Dannielle and Sharmistha join Salomé to discuss how Hilma’s Ghost came to be, their research-based approach to spiritual matters as “believing skeptics,” their love of Hilma, tarot, and who gets to call themselves a witch, among many other fascinating subjects.Cover photo by Dulce Pinzón.
Oct 15
53 min
Deep K Kailey on Quieting the Mind
Deep Kailey spent years building a glossy, high-powered career in fashion, as the first fashion editor of Vogue India, fashion director of Tatler UK, and right hand to major names in the industry, before a persistent pull toward life's bigger questions changed her trajectory. She left it all behind to co-found Without Shape, Without Form, an arts organization rooted in Sikh philosophy that uses exhibitions, publications, and gatherings to help people quiet their minds.In this episode, Deep joins Salomé to trace her path from fashion into this work, the personal losses that first opened her up to life's bigger questions, and why traditional forms of success didn't bring the fulfillment she expected. They talk about Simran, a form of meditation, as the anchor of her practice, and the impact she's witnessed in the people who encounter this work. Grounded in Deep's personal journey, it's an eye-opening conversation about centuries-old Sikh traditions and tools that have the power to quiet our minds and reconnect us to source. https://www.withoutshapewithoutform.com/
Aug 10
1 hr 13 min
Emily Weiner on Presence, Persistence, and Leaps of Faith
Emily Weiner worked many jobs within the art world before giving herself entirely over to painting. She was a writer, a curator, a professor, and many other things in between, until four years ago when she quit her day job to paint full-time. Soon after, everything seemed to fall into place. Today, the New York-born, Nashville-based artist has built an increasingly celebrated practice rooted in intuition and symbolism, reconsidering the art historical canon through crisp, hypnotic canvases and a Jungian, feminist lens.In this episode, Emily joins Salomé to trace the long, winding road she’s traveled to become an artist, from a childhood fascination with art, through years of searching for her place in the art world. They talk about what it means to stay present with your own creative instincts even when the path isn't clear, why persistence sometimes looks like patience, and how vulnerability and spirituality inform her stunning work. 
Jul 29
51 min
Terry Tempest Williams on Writing the Ineffable
Terry Tempest Williams is an American writer, environmentalist, and author of more than twenty books, including Refuge, When Women Were Birds, and Erosion. A Guggenheim fellow and the writer-in-residence at Harvard Divinity School since 2017, she has spent decades exploring the intersection of nature, spirituality, and the written word. In this episode, Terry joins Salomé to discuss The Glorians, a book that arose from a dream she had one week into the 2020 global lockdown. They speak about the six-year journey of writing it; what it means to pay attention in a world built on distraction; how grace became a central question of her time at Harvard; and the remarkable, awe-inspiring story of the Divinity Tree that she wove so beautifully into the book. It's an episode about presence as a spiritual practice and the leaps of faith that shape a writing life devoted to the ineffable.Link to buy The GloriansWillow Interview on Reflections
Jul 14
48 min
Suchitra Mattai on the Healing and Liberating Power of Art
Suchitra Mattai is a Guyanese-American artist of South Asian descent who creates spellbinding, monumental installations and textile sculptures to spotlight women's voices, while honoring her ancestors, who were once brought from India to Guyana as indentured laborers.In this episode, she joins Salomé to talk about art as a practice of healing, reclamation, and liberation. She opens up about the role art-making played in her recovery from a years-long struggle with bipolar disorder, how centering heritage, memory, and mythology in her work has helped her process collective trauma, and how she's seen that healing ripple out into the communities her work touches. Among many themes, they explore her winding professional path from studying statistics to getting an MFA, and the sacred, intuitive way she makes art, letting the divine and materials themselves speak through her.For previous conversations between Suchitra and Salomé, see:https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/suchitra-mattai-artist-interviewhttps://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-suchitra-mattais-soulful-works-convey-unspeakable-truths
Jun 19
52 min
Cassandra Lanrick on Being Real and Being Seen
Fashion stylist Cassandra Lanrick says she likes things "a little bit ugly." She resists the traditional rules of fashion—dressing for flattery, dressing for the male gaze, dressing for trends—and instead treats getting dressed as a practice of self-expression and delight.In this episode, Cassandra joins Salomé to talk about what it takes to show up online consistently, how she overcame the fear of being seen, and why she refuses to participate in the culture of performing a curated, perfected self. They explore the radicalism of dressing for yourself, the expectations society places on women, and what it means to create simply because it brings you joy, without knowing where it's all going. Ultimately, this is a conversation about what happens when we allow ourselves to be real and be seen in a world that has never made either easy.Follow Cassandra: @cassandralanrick
May 27
45 min
Jennifer Higgie on Art Writing, Spirituality, and Practicality
Jennifer Higgie is an Australian-born, London-based writer, editor, and curator. Author of The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit World, The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits, and the novel Bedlam, she began her career as a painter before finding her way into art writing and spending over 20 years as editor of frieze magazine. In this episode, Jennifer joins Salomé to discuss the decades-long writing practice she has built by balancing deep intuition with relentless practicality. They explore how her career shifted from painting to writing, the creative urgency that drives her work, and why spirituality (long dismissed as an embarrassment in the modern art world) is finally being taken seriously again. From trusting a beginner's mind to delivering manuscripts on deadline, Jennifer reflects on the habits, philosophies, and leaps of faith that have led her to become one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary art writing.Gagosian Quartely Interview between Jennifer and Salomé: https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2023/12/14/interview-leaning-into-the-ethereal-jennifer-higgie-and-salome-gomez-upegui/Beatrice Wood article mentioned in the episode: https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2026/03/02/essay-game-changer-beatrice-wood/Links to purchase Jennifer's books: The Other Side: A Journey into Women, Art and the Spirit WorldThe Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women's Self-PortraitsBedlam
May 13
54 min
Welcome to Reflections
Blending solo episodes and conversations with some of the most thoughtful, interesting people I know, Reflections is meant to be a welcoming, curiosity-driven space to explore what it means to find and feel creative alignment in our lives. Together, we’ll ask questions like: How do people find and stay connected to their creative lives? How do they devote themselves to their passions, practice discipline, take risks, move through doubt, overcome obstacles and open themselves to something larger—whether you call it intuition, purpose, or the divine?If you’re searching for clarity, connection, or a deeper relationship with your creative life, you’re in the right place. Thank you for being here.  *If you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing, leaving a rating or review, and sharing it with someone who might enjoy it too. It's the simplest way to support my work and I truly appreciate it.
Jan 30
2 min
Kelly Talamas on Writing Your Own Story
At just 27 years old, Kelly Talamas became the youngest editor-in-chief ever at the helm of Vogue México and Latin America. Five years into the role, she made the bold decision to step away from what many would consider a dream job to build a more intentional life, one rooted in creative independence and family.Today, Kelly is a mother of three and the co-founder of LATINNESS, a website that explores Latin America through interviews, virtual escapes, and local city guides with Latin creatives.In this episode, she speaks to Salomé about the many reasons behind her choice to leave Vogue and begin writing a story of her own, one in which her career remains meaningful but doesn't define the entirety of who she is. It’s an honest, generous conversation about the multiple versions of ourselves we inhabit over time, and what it means to ground your life in alignment and authenticity while inspiring others in the process.Intro and outro music by ⁠Pryces.
Nov 21, 2025
56 min
On Changing Careers & Listening to the Voice Within
In this solo episode, Salomé reflects on the winding path that led her from human rights law to creative writing. She revisits her time at Harvard Law School, the moments of doubt that shaped her search for purpose, and the quiet power of choosing inner guidance over external validation.After sharing this story with friends and colleagues countless times, she offers it here hoping to inspire anyone who might be standing at the edge of change, wondering if it’s too late to begin again. Resource mentioned: To Be MagneticIntro and outro music by Pryces.
Nov 7, 2025
29 min
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