"Traveling Without Leaving Home" is a project by artist and designer Jorge Cejudo, also known as “Cejas.” Over the course of seven months, he shared a pandemic-born series of over 200 drawings on his Instagram account @soyelcejas, reconnecting with his followers after the emergency lockdown by inviting them to join him in imagining journeys through various cities around the world.
In this exclusive interview for ArchDaily, Jorge speaks about his personal interests, the history of his Instagram account, and his reflections on the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on for the full interview.
Mónica Arellano: To start, I would like you to tell me how you got into drawing.
Jorge Cejudo: Ever since I was a child, I’ve loved drawing, as well as art and crafts in general. My mother has always been very creative, so I took all kinds of craft classes growing up. I was always drawn to the iconography of the city's subway system, supermarket packaging design, and I would even follow music bands or buy their records solely for the album art. As the years went by, I realized I wanted to study Graphic Design.
Mónica Arellano: How did this Instagram project start, and how did you begin leaving drawings around the city?
Jorge Cejudo: The account started in 2011, the year I moved to Mérida, Yucatán, to work on an Inter-American Development Bank project aimed at the comprehensive revitalization of the historic center—covering communication, architecture, design, and signage. I remember buying an iPhone and immediately opening an Instagram account. In 2012, my first social media project emerged: a calendar that involved photographing the number of the day of the year. It started because on January 1, I was walking with my daughters and saw a number "1" painted on a stone. I thought it marked a beginning, so I posted it. The next day I found a "2," then a "3," and so on for all 365 days of the year.
This was when I understood the power of social media to connect with people, as those I interacted with began sending me their own numbers. It also allowed me to practice what I call creative discipline—doing the same thing consistently as a metaphor for living in the present; that is the gift. To this day, I draw every day: some years in color, others in monochrome; sometimes I draw songs, capturing what music, sounds, and poems evoke in me. In 2017, I realized it was selfish to keep my drawings hidden away in a notebook, so I started leaving them in the streets for people to pick up, share, or keep safe. This helped immensely in connecting with people, who constantly share their stories with me. It became a mutual exchange.
Mónica Arellano: What happened to this dynamic when the pandemic hit?
Jorge Cejudo: The last drawing I made before the lockdown was of a man climbing into his house through the roof, with the words "Time to stay inside." I pasted it onto a post on the corner of my street. The next day, I thought, "Well, I miss walking to the office." I always walk, and although I usually change my route, I often pass the Palacio de Hierro parking structure on Durango Street in Colonia Roma. I love that building, so I thought, "I miss it, so I'll draw it." If I miss it, I draw it. Then I remembered I had never been to the Taj Mahal, so I thought, "Let's go to the Taj Mahal." That's how I started making these drawings, and people on Instagram began recommending places to "travel" to this way.
That is how I embarked on this journey without leaving home. I would research everything needed to "visit" New York or Paris, searching tourism websites. I began traveling extensively through architecture, and I loved the research process behind each building, public square, and palace. It became a very fun dialogue. Since I have friends living abroad, whenever I "traveled" and drew, I would drop in to have a virtual coffee with them. I think it's wonderful that these kinds of connections can happen.
Mónica Arellano: What do you think changed in you and in your creative process?
Jorge Cejudo: It helped me find closure. We have been isolated for hundreds of days, and this isn't over yet. I want to make the most of my time because we don't know what tomorrow will bring. It reminded me of the importance of routine. I gained very positive things, such as learning to coexist and be tolerant. I also learned to work with what I had, because creativity is largely about doing more with less.
For more information, visit the official website El Cejas.
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Jorge Cejudo “Cejas” (Mexico City, 1969) is a prolific artist and designer with a career spanning over 30 years. He has developed various design projects, most notably the wayfinding and signage system for Mexico City’s Central de Abastos in 2017, created in collaboration with Lance Wyman. His extensive body of work includes paintings, sculptures, urban art, and murals, such as the "Soy mi centro" mural under the Tlaxcoaque overpass in Mexico City. Made of more than 9 million Venetian mosaic tiles, it is considered the largest of its kind in the world.
This article was written by Mónica Arellano. The translation is powered by AI.
