Hope Collage

I was born in Mozambique, I bathed in the polychrome of the warm waters of the Indian Ocean and sipped the intense tones of the African sunsets. I was lulled by the distant and rhythmic sounds of the “batuques” (drums) and inebriated by the scents of pineapple, coconut and guava. I let myself be impregnated by the warm colours of the “capulanas” (traditional cotton fabrics that Mozambican women use as clothing, in which they sometimes carry their children on their backs) and the shades of the ochre clays of the thatched huts. The nuances of the corals of the Island of Mozambique filled the palette of my imaginary. This amalgam was obviously carried over to my drawings which, since very small, I executed almost compulsively. At school, my favorite classes were the Drawing ones and the teacher’s praise for my aesthetic sensitivity motivated me further. At the time, I was also seduced by the various textures that were part of my universe. I painted shells, used tissue paper, cardboard, plaster; made collages… Watercolours, gouaches and brushes replaced the perfumes and creams on the dressing table in my room. There was, however, a “grown up” doll that I dressed and undressed with clothes designed and scrupulously chosen by me (what a fashion designer!) that my mother patiently sewed saying how proud she was of my “taste for the beautiful”. From the Indian, I “sailed” to the Atlantic Ocean. I came to live in Portugal and here new experiments emerged. I came across other colours of sea and sky, I discovered the tones of the cherries and the almond blossoms, of the pottery and the Portuguese tiles, I met the textures of the linens and the brocades, of the lace and the filigree, I learned to fall asleep without the sound of the “batuques” (drums), but I hear, now closer, the crashing of the waves of a sea where corals do not inhabit, but provides me with very inspiring multicoloured algae. The doll, with tired eyes, rests in a wooden chest. The smell of salt air and paint reaches the dressing table in my room and Art invades the whole house and my soul. I breathe Art.