Portrait of multidisciplinary artist Kwame Sousa
Design Indaba
Cape Town, South Africa
São Tomean artist Kwame Sousa was selected by Design Indaba to take part in our collaborative initiative with Google Arts & Culture, titled Colours of Africa.
Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them.
The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.
- Title: Portrait of multidisciplinary artist Kwame Sousa
- Original Source: Design Indaba
- What it Means to be African: For me being African has a unique meaning: it's being connected to all the rituals and customs that only those who are born African can understand.
- Subject: Kwame Sousa
- Rationale: The colours that come to life in my creative work are blue and green. When you live on a tropical island in the middle of Ecuador, it's almost impossible for these colours not to become part of us. The blue of the sky and the sea almost merge with the dense green of the tropical forest. Any other colours during this process are small dots or blots in an inhospitable environment, similar to a festival of neon lights where everything becomes bicolour. I studied art in Europe where the chromatic pattern had nothing to do with the density that I carried within me. It's at this moment that I begin to realize that all this vibrant multicolour life that was inside me was a sensation of an almost radioactive explosion. A refusal to accept other colour palettes has been adapted. My aesthetic vision was totally distorted from where I came from, Africa. Signs and codes that were kept unconsciously during my journey assume the main role in a permanent search for my identity.
- Project: Colors of Africa
- Location: São Tomé and Príncipe
- Lead Quote: When you live on a tropical island in the middle of Ecuador, it's almost impossible for these colours not to become part of us.
- Hex Code: B2D054
- Colour Choice: Horizon
- Biography: Kwame Sousa was born in São Tomé and Príncipe, in April 1980. He is a truly multidisciplinary artist who explores a wide range of media, techniques and styles. Influenced by colleagues, Kwame developed a taste for art at the end of pre-university education, and then he began drawing.
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