Reflections

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.

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/

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. 

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 Glorians

Willow Interview on Reflections

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-interview

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-suchitra-mattais-soulful-works-convey-unspeakable-truths

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

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 World

The Mirror and the Palette: 500 Years of Women's Self-Portraits

Bedlam

In this solo episode, Salomé invites listeners to get clear on what they want. A reflection on the importance of setting aside time to define our goals and intentions, and on cultivating a deep certainty in our ability to achieve what we set our minds and hearts to.

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.

In this solo episode, Salomé explores the power of slowing down and allowing ourselves to do nothing. Revisiting a personal essay she wrote years ago, she considers the importance of rest and presence in a world that constantly rewards doing. It’s an invitation to breathe and pause as we enter the final stretch of the year, welcoming more ease into our lives.

Book Salomé reads from: The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo

Intro and outro music by ⁠⁠Pryces.