When did you realise that art is your path?

I had realised that art is my path when I was very young in the single digits. It was through a friend of my grandmother, Elisa, who I now recognize that she was an Artist as well yet never had the privilege to call herself that. My grandma had complained about my constant questioning and fusing to create things and Elisa replied to her that I was an artist finding my way. I believe it was through encouragement to day dream and create. I had among many privileges of time and loneliness. While later on choosing a path between design and fine arts it was the wondrous possibilities, flexibility of Art to communicate to new and existing ideas and solutions to others and to self that convinced me to continue or rather convinced me that I was already in it.To this day I try to find the purpose in art and than question it and I love the fact that it keeps evolving in the possibilities and never falters.

 

How do you balance your various projects since you are an artist but also own a catering business?

Balance is a subject that I am yet understanding.I believe at the moment I am learning at which end of the scale to set the priorities of life. But to say that being an artist belongs in balance to something else I am conflicted to say so.I am always an artist no matter what I do in between thinking, working and living or doing nothing. I will admit that I rarely have that proper balance. I intensely work on everything I do as if it were artwork. The balance I require is remembering when to calm.

Catering is one of my creative extensions that so happens to be at this moment helping me make money and also creatively innovative in another skill set not only in making food but also in communicating with others. So I find purpose in this job that helps me in my practice and my practice continues in the job.

 

Could you tell us about the process of creation? How long does it take to move from an idea to a piece of art?

The process by which the idea becomes something is relative to the situation and pressures involved. It could take as long as a moment of making before the idea is fully understood to be. Sometimes the idea does not exist until the process happens. I believe this concept helps me stay wide eyed to possibilities of understanding things around me without being closed in and that it focuses on a question or possible framing around a concept that can be rooted.

Some processes call for a questioning of self and that ongoing question of purpose and then I ask what that means in the particular situation outside myself combined with the possibilities of what I can create at the moment. .I work reflectively through the process of making and experiencing the outcome of said process through audience engagement. I relay the process in exploration of materiality as a narrator and subvert with poetic interpretations of everyday objects.

 

What are you trying to communicate with your art?

I try to communicate the multiple factors and engagement of empathy as the understanding of self and others in the ongoing intrinsic and extrinsic, sense, essence and purpose in the human condition.

 

To what extent does the pandemic influence your depiction of art? Does it generate new inspiration?

The pandemic influenced my depiction of art through reflections of permanence,the real value of empathy and its responsibilities that it can extend to. This made me think about making art as experience, and experience as art. During the pandemic I started to grow plants and I learned from this the process of rooting, grounding, sprouting life and how it expires to something else and waiting for the next process that could surprise me with resilience.My practice is now drawn to less materiality as possible or to utilise objects as is experienced.

 

How do you feel about being involved in an online residency program? How important is it to stay connected with the international art community?

This is my first time experiencing an online residency. I feel overall very privileged to have the time and capacity to do this. I am also very happy to be part of this new community learning in depth how other artists across different cultures do their art and the willingness to collaborate or give feedback and encouragement. What are your thoughts about the theme ‘artist on standby’? Tell us a bit more about your project… I was immediately drawn to this concept because it spoke to how I was currently feeling as an artist on my island not only during the pandemic but also as things normalised. My society still sees art as something on the side until it is desperately needed. So when I get called out to represent I have to be on standby..while working on something else. On stand by waiting and prepared for what needs to be handled by the artist process. For this project I want to be open to the collaboration aspect. I have made an open call to the other artist in the residency to send me their idea of their favourite dish to which I will interpret in my kitchen and then transcribe a recipe personalised to each of them. This is an ongoing project called distance package where I make a care package personalised with the persons or family’s memories or things immaterially treasured.

 

What do you want to achieve before things return to normal?

As things now normalise where I live I would like to achieve a routine in my practice that is open to the idea of reconciliation of what I need to do to survive and what my practice is about.

Any future plans/projects?

For future projects I would love to visit other places where I could communicate my practice and possibly collaborate with others. I have a few places to visit this year to which I hope to broaden the understanding of my ongoing projects.