When Serendipity Becomes a Stage

In his series Because People Matter, Dutch photographer Pie Aerts recounts the kind of story that feels scripted by the universe. A simple exchange over Instagram grew into a collaboration with our co-founder Eduardo Castillo, a meeting of two creative worlds bound by shared values of fatherhood, empathy, and art as activism.

The signs kept appearing: a chance encounter at the Arctic Circle, a woman on a plane in India who turned out to be a mutual friend, and finally, the stage itself, Mexico City Art Week, February 2025. Nearly a thousand people gathered in the former Antigua Hotel Reforma, where Eduardo’s music and Pie’s photography merged into an immersive three-hour live show. Images stretched across 360° screens, music carried the pulse of the earth, and the audience experienced something akin to the “Overview Effect” that astronaut’s realization of our planet’s fragility and unity.

For Pie, it was more than a performance. It was proof that coincidences are often whispers from the world, guiding us toward connection and purpose. A powerful friendship was born that night, one that promises to grow into something larger in the years ahead.

Read the full story here: Because People Matter on Substack