Artists’ Perspectives

Through insightful interviews and feature stories, Rupture Magazine offers a window into the minds of contemporary artists, revealing their inspirations, struggles, and visions for a meaningful future.

Artists’ Perspectives: Voices from Africa, Brazil, and India

Through insightful interviews and feature stories, Rupture Magazine offers a rare window into the lives of contemporary artists: their inspirations, their challenges, and their hopes for a meaningful future. Here, we spotlight artists from across Africa, Brazil, and India, each carving paths that merge personal vision with cultural resonance.

Africa

Wangechi Mutu (Kenyan–American Visual Artist)

In “Black Soil Poems,” currently exhibited at Galleria Borghese in Rome, Mutu suspends sculptural collages from the ceilings, weaving personal grief and collective histories using materials like coffee grounds and tea leaves. Her practice challenges entrenched narratives—colonial, patriarchal—offering deeply personal yet globally resonant insights Financial Times.

Amoako Boafo (Ghanaian Painter)

Celebrated for his finger-painted portraits celebrating Black life, Boafo channels personal and communal memory. His recent works include a recreation of his childhood courtyard and high-profile projects such as painting Jeff Bezos’s rocket, underlining how deeply rooted identity can inform striking visual innovation The Guardian.

Hashim Nasr (Sudanese Photographer)

A former dentist turned photographer, Nasr transforms trauma into advocacy. Using symbolic red fabric and dreamlike imagery, he addresses civil conflict and displacement in Sudan. His ethereal portraits are both personal catharsis and poignant humanitarian commentary The Guardian.

Brazil

Sonia Gomes (Afro-Brazilian Sculptor)

Gomes constructs visceral sculptural forms using found textiles, drawn from her childhood fascination with craft and ritual. Her work—“visceral, collective memory”—honors Afro-Brazilian heritage while redefining continuity and recognition in contemporary practice Wikipedia.

Ernesto Neto (Installation Artist)

Neto’s immersive sculptures—crafted from spices, textiles, and plants—reconnect viewers to their bodies and to nature. He insists, “We are nature,” inviting participatory experiences that dissolve the human–environment divide, anchoring a future rooted in ecological and embodied sensibility Designboom.

Gonçalo Ivo (Painter and Author)

Ivo’s work unfolds in hybrid form—ever-evolving, resisting fixed style. In his book Metric of Color, his interview explores how digital communication and art interconnect. He views traditional art forms like painting and printmaking as enduring, yet transformed, sustaining culture amid digitization Sounds and Colours.

Janice Mascarenhas (Afro-Brazilian Hair Artist)

Through braiding and representations of Black hair, Mascarenhas transforms personal healing into collective empowerment. She uses hair as cosmic medium and states: “I am the materialisation of my ancestors’ dreams… the future is Black, so is the present, and so was the past.” Bubblegum Club.

India (No interview-based sources found from web search; let me know if you have artists in mind!)

Collective Insights

Artist	Inspiration & Vision
Wangechi Mutu	Material storytelling, cultural critique, blending personal grief with collective memory
Amoako Boafo	Memory-rich portraiture, community roots, identity in bold form
Hashim Nasr	Trauma-informed photography as political testimony and healing
Sonia Gomes	Textile-based craft tied to ritual, memory, and material transformation
Ernesto Neto	Embodied, sensory installations that reclaim our bond with nature
Gonçalo Ivo	Artistic hybridity; enduring analog mediums amid digital evolution
Janice Mascarenhas	Hair, identity, ancestral resonance, and Black future-making