Cassi Namoda

Cassi Namoda (born in 1988) is a painter from Mozambique. She currently works and lives in Italy. Quotes It’s a kind of lifestyle for myself, I think grounding is essential for the human nature but I guess I’m grounded but I’m not grounded at the same time. And I’m choosing that. This traveling aspect is very much me. Her conversation With Maryam Nassir Zadeh The world is not what exists but what happens Her view of the world I feel pregnant with work: all these ideas want to have a birth Her approach to art Galleries should have no expectations. Every artist has overworked or underworked something. I will be the only one to know if it’s finished. Her approach to art I constantly look to craft a literary connection or to suggest a longing to write and reflect It’s almost divine when I’m working with figures and they start to form themselves Colonialism created the circus, the clown, the “freak,” and it’s crucial to afford these figures an existence outside Europe Why do we think vitiligo looks unusual, if not through an occupation of the white, Christian gaze? There’s always a spiritual moment within the painting We’re all familiar with dreamlife and how within the dream itself you may not know what the symbols mean. All you can do is observe and feel, and it’s not until you wake up that you can have a conscious effort to make sense of them I’m not looking for extremities; I’m looking for a middle ground that feels unusual, but where we can relate to what’s happening in the picture. Today, Africa is, I think, in its most complicated and sensitive state. The Portuguese were not unlike the Arabs in that they adapted to African systems When you experience Mozambique’s cities and the landscape, when you walk through Maputo’s boulevards, you find an urban, European past; that style of living is juxtaposed with African sensuality. It’s a complex, mixed culture—one that can only be embraced as a layered community, a layered mystery Myth and History: Cassi Namoda Interviewed I was always fascinated by the art of seeing that was always innate in me – that I wanted to tell a story, but I wasn’t sure in what form. That for me is the golden rule: doing what you feel is inherent to you as an artist, whether it makes you successful or not Questioning and learning should never stop How I became an artist: Cassi Namoda Everyone [in Mozambique] fought for revolution, whether you were a woman or man I think you can’t have joy without suffering My truth at that moment [was that] we have to accept that a little will take us a long way It is less about the depictions and more about how they make you feel or how it makes you understand, relate to a time removed from you. Then, the gaze is something that reminds you that you are not a member of their society. I am not so fascinated with the idea of telling a racial story, but I am more interested in telling stories of a world that people might not seem so knowledgeable about It is not that I want you to step in and have an idea of what Black fatherhood is like or what it is like being a lady of the night in 1960s Mozambique through my paintings. I want to challenge what you might expect I am interested in the in-between, like that in-between before crying or that in-between before laughing. Magical realism is definitely the foundation of Mozambican expression I feel like I have a duty to keep storytelling and exploring narratives around Mozambique I feel that part of the identity about being from Mozambique is to be a creative, to be a writer, to make music, to do woodcarving [When] I think about African Expressionism, I am taking agency between the two, a love for European painting but still keeping it very much in the realm of belonging to the continent The language of painting has always felt to me so abrupt I am encouraging audiences to have some audacity around living Emotion is abundant in the way that humans can connect to story Painting personal histories Any painter should access the history of painting and those who came before them Growing up, I’ve always had to adapt, and it’s given me an attribute where I’m able to connect dots There’s something reviving about the color orange, like a life force I wanted to challenge the notion of currency being so important, especially in the art world There’s something vulnerable and tender about small works The assumption that bigger is better is not always true To paint life is to keep an open mind In one way, I understand that everyone’s a part of the revolution if you want a free country, but I also believe in free will Right now, there’s a lot of educating, and with that comes a lot of political correctness I’m navigating my spiritual self through painting We’re here for each other. We have to know that there are others like us. Cassi Namoda The Sense of Saudade I think many African painters, certainly [those of the] past, look to have a sensory experience, something that we can relate to and that we feel in our daily life To me, painting just feels boundless and full of curiosity, and the ability to grow is there. That’s really intriguing to me because, in a human sense, that’s what life is all about. I think painting is haunting Being in love is a very fleeting idea. The West has adapted union and marriage from some fairytale situation and in [many] African cultures it’s the opposite of that. There are family bonds, there are practicalities, there are logistics, land and cattle – it’s a whole thing I would like for the viewer to walk away enchanted, but also disenchanted. To have a sense that life is complex and living is work and that not everything is as simple as it seems, and that’s just like the human experience Cassi Namoda’s Dreamlike Paintings Depict the Lives of Women in Mozambique References External Links