light and dark residencies
During this 2-week online creation residency hosted by emptyroom and CCMA – Goethe Center Maputo, four international artists Clara Aden (Nigeria), Nomahlubi Mthimkhulu (South Africa), Marlene Radice (Australia), and Adriana
Jamisse (Mozambique) explored different nuances around the idea of light and dark, each in their own medium. The residency included workshops in video editing and digital photography, and each artist documented their creation
process as a way to invite the public into their studio.
conversations with darkness – adriana jamisse (mz)
“There are emotional states I associate with light and
others that I associate with darkness, and this work was
about finding a genuine embodied expression for
those states. But as humans we several times experience
our freedom being cut short by social rules and
our conditioning growing up. I found that as a woman I
was often restricted in my expression due to negative
stereotypical ideas of that particular gender. If I was
angry it wasn’t allowed to be expressed because it
was not pretty, it was not a lady’s behaviour, it was
violent. If I was happy or loud, I was becoming hysterical
and inconvenient. If I was sad and in despair, it was
viewed as weak and hypersensitive.
In “Conversations with Darkness”, I dedicated myself to dive into emotional states and navigate these inner resistances ingrained by conditioning.”
the divine dichotomy of yin and yang – nomahlubi mthimkhulu (sa)
We live in a world of relativity. Where you can’t fully experience one, without fully knowing the other. And because the process of life is to create ourselves anew, in the next grandest version of the greatest vision we’ve ever held about ourselves – this
process is vital. Yin and Yang energy is the fullest expression of this divine dichotomy. A notion that everything in nature is complete, balanced, whole. In communion with each other. In service of the ultimate truth. That there is only one us. experiencing the
whole as the other.
My aim within this project was to create images that celebrate this philosophy as a necessity of being. Because I believe we are here to experience all the edges of all the emotions and energies we can fathom. the good, the bad. the high, the low. the
dark, and the light. I dedicate this body of work to myself, and everyone else who’s ever felt out of place in this world. I want them to know, just like I have though this process, that by the virtue of their divine existence they are enough.
“The other residents and I had artistic researches, that somehow had a meeting point, so we could definitely feed from each others work and process. I had a great time creating and I feel like I found new creative pathways with this
process. Thank you!” – Clara Aden, Nigeria
shadow and sound - marlene radice (AU)
“My entire process centered around abstracting dark and light sounds and using them in different dark and light shadow and lighting schemes. The idea was using the clarinet as an extension of myself and showing my own emotional responses, and intuitive responses musically to these spaces as well.
This also places these images and audio that we are hearing and seeing outside of the context of language that we’ve been taught to associate with specific ideas. And places it in a more emotional context. What are we seeing, what are we experiencing. I want to give the audience the opportunity to provide their own meaning to my work.”
mirroring masters of light and dark – clara aden (ng)
“Art cannot happen without inspiration. I search for ideas which fully express my intention. At times, I give some time and space, and the idea will come when I’ve almost forgotten about it. By the time I came back home I saw our neighbour outside – uau. The play of light and dark was insightful. The painting “My dear
neighour” (left) is an eyeopener to start of the concept of light and dark I want to explore. It’s fascinating to see the scenario changes with the different plays of light on the objects.
There are a total of 9 artworks on display. This work expresses the means of artistic lighting, also mirroring the masters’ of light and dark compositional settings. Caravaggio’s “Still life with fruit on a stone” dated around 1603, and “A boy peeling a fruit” dated around 1592 inspired the two paintings below –
“Sammie cutting orange” (left) and “1 to 5 setup” (right).”
“Debbie baby doll”
“Debbie baby doll II”
“The joy of motherhood”
“Still life of vegetable and kitchen utensils”
“Still life of vegetable and kitchen utensils II”
“As the late american graphic artist Milton Ernest says: the artists job is to be a witness in his time in history. in the future, we and our world, we’ll be a part of history itself. so what we see, hear and experience we give visualisations to those challenging stories and experiences. “Artistic diary in the time of Covid-19”
(right) is my self-portrait reflecting upon the current times.”
