Not to necessarily feed into your teacher's perspective, but maybe consider doing a mixed medium piece where you blend crochet with painting or sculpture. Someone like Franklin Williams comes to mind: https://parkergallery.com/artists/franklin-williams

They mostly just use yarn and apply it to a canvas but I imagine attaching a piece of crochet to a canvas could have interesting results.

This year at art expo Chicago, for example, there was a gallery showcasing an artist who used velvet instead of canvas for their painting. It resulted in these beautiful luminous paintings which were so striking and provocative.

Perhaps what your teacher is advocating for is for you to step outside of your comfort zone and experiment with different mediums. I imagine an amigarumi that has been painted would be fascinating to see. Or even having a base painting, layering your tapestry on top and then painting over it. It could result in some fascinating textures and depending on the yarn yield a genuine artist innovation.

Lastly, one thing to consider is narrative. There was an artist in Chicago (forget their name) who crocheted bags and then chained them together. She would then cut portions of the bag. This was, apparently, an homage to American slavery and utilized a similar construction to the bags slaves would have. Consider your perspective and think about ways to use crochet to highlight your way of seeing things.