Cassi Namoda

Cassi Namoda is her studio, photographed by Daniel Sahlberg, Artsy. 

Art that draws the line between abstract and representational are not what modern critics or historians would say “naive” or “primitive” meeting Western standard right now. That would imply some kind of laziness or lack of understanding when there is a startling intelligence, a motivation behind the artist’s intentions. Thus, no longer tied down to the white art cannon philosophy, artists like Cassi Namoda are taking abstract representation to impressionable heights. 

Conjoined Twins in Soft Blue Dressing, acrylic on canvas, 2020. 

Cassi Namoda was born in Maputo, Mozambique in 1988. She was raised in various parts of the world including Kenya and Uganda before later studying cinematography at The Academy of Arts in San Francisco, California, USA.

“My story, the narrative I’m expressing in my work, is inspired by lusophone culture, or of Mozambique,” Namoda says in CFHILL. “It’s a world that I think that most people don’t know about. So, when I did the Bar Texas, 1971 show in Detroit, that was me paying homage to Mozambique, and a time that happened not too long ago. It’s more about the storytelling for me, that and keeping it all aligned. I feel that when it comes to Mozambique, to understand its history, you have to look at the arts and literature. It’s sort of an ancestral duty to keep that going.”

Family Portrait in Gurué, 2019, I-D. Vice.

Namoda’s attractive acrylic/oil paintings intertwine moments of joy and sorrow. Families are close-knit together, whether on the beaches of the artist’s upbringing or conjoined like her several sets of twins, bonded by biology and paint. These dark brown skinned characters— grim faced, often teary eyed, parents and children— seem caught up by a photographer’s camera, staring out or looking away, the flat, solid colors of their clothes having a dalliance with the background, the deliberate brushstrokes telling stories that are bright, cheerful, or contemplative. It is not surprising that Namoda cites Helen Frankenthaler and Georges Seurat as influences, for these two artists are definitely interested in the painting act, in the function of colors, of creating bold shapes and textures.

Namoda’s bright, whimsical colors in Sasha and Zamani’s Fruitful Earth brings to mind Frankenthaler’s style of deliberately staining canvases with huge areas contained in pure vivid colors, experimenting their saturation and contrast. Yet Namoda’s Black figures interrupt the yellow-gold and earth green spaces with their patterned clothes and everyday activity, two women preparing abundant food. In this evocative work, Namoda is weaving together art history impact and modern life in Mozambique, sharing that their natural, seemingly ordinary selves belong on canvases too. 

Vogue Italia cover, 2020.

“I studied cinema briefly,” Namoda reveals in i-D Vice, “and I'm very interested in creating characters. When I'm painting, I think a lot about the nuances of their gazes, and what they can communicate. One of the lifeblood characters in my work is Maria: in this exhibition, she shows up in a downtown setting, the Baixa, which is sort of the red light district. She’s a complex character, and I'm always rediscovering her gaze. I think of her as an expanded metaphor for life in post-colonial Mozambique.”

Conjoined Twins, New Town and New Master, acrylic on canvas, 2020, underdog collection. 

Sasha and Zamani’s Fruitful Earth, 2019, photography by Mark Blower. 

Namoda has exhibited at Pippy Houldsworth, London, UK, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, California, USA, Nina Johnson Gallery and Pérez Art Museum both in Miami, Florida, USA, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts both in New York City, New York, USA, CFHILL in Stockholm, Sweden, Library Street Collective, Detroit, Michigan, USA, and Nicodim Galleries in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was named one of the ‘Rising Arts Stars of 2020’ by Elephant Magazine and painted the January 2020 issue of Vogue Italia.

Mama’s Free Spirit, acrylic on canvas, 2020, Timothy Taylor. 

Cassi Namoda currently divides between Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York. Her newest exhibition, To Live Long Is To See Much, will be opening in November at The Goodman Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa.