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Simone Spencer
Spotlight artist
Who is the artist behind Simone Spencer Visual Artist?
Tell us about yourself: your roots, your early inspirations, and what defines your identity as an artist.
I am a visual artist from Cabo Verde. I am a woman. I am free and i love beautiful things. My work is characterized by strong colors and freedom of experimentation. I have always been very curious about how things work and that translates into my practice.
How do you present yourself artistically?
What are your preferred expressive languages (painting, installation, drawing, etc.), and how would you describe your style or visual signature?
I paint, i sculpt, i build. I love to experiment. Every time people ask me what is y style I say, i do whatever I want. My visual signature is bold and vibrant colors, visual research and art that is made by a woman. I am interested in decolonizing art and art as a means to open constructive dialogues.
How has your creative journey been so far?
Share with us the most significant steps, challenges overcome, and choices that shaped your path as an artist.
The most important choice i made was to call myself an artist, or better, to let myself be convinced that i am , indeed, an artist. The second most important is the daily reminder that i know what i am doing and I know what I want to say with my art. I can be my harshest critic, so i remind myself daily that i already have all the tools that I need to create what I want.
What are your goals, current reach, and dreams as an artist?
What do you hope to achieve in the short and long term? Is there a specific community or audience you wish to reach?
My goal is to make art full time and participate in more artistic residencies. I hope to reach more capeverdeans and people that love Cabo Verde, and strengthen my connection with other art practitioners in my continent. I am excited about the conversation happening in the art sphere among people of African descent and how we can bring those conversations to Cabo Verde and how we relate.
What values permeate your work, and how do you perceive your art within Cape Verdean identity and African heritage?
How does your art dialogue with ancestry, culture, identity, and Cape Verdean or African narratives?
I am deeply inspired by capeverdean culture and my African heritage. I am currently researching Panu di Tera and using traditional craftsmanship such as embroidery and crochet. Through my digital collage, I repurpose vintage photos, it started as an exercise in looking for faces that look like mine and now it has evolved to finding people and faces that feel familiar and building a story around the information i might find about them or the story i make about them.
Book of the moment
My Heart Speaks Kriolu:
On Saturday walks with her grandfather, a young girl connects with her Cabo Verdean heritage while learning about the true meaning of home.
Papa always speaks of someday bringing his granddaughter back home to Cabo Verde. But the young girl has never set foot on their ancestral island’s faraway shores. And each time Papa urges her to speak Kriolu, the Portuguese creole native to the West African country, the girl’s tongue betrays her, and she stumbles over her own words. If she can’t even get the language right, can her grandfather’s home ever truly be hers, too?
But each Saturday afternoon when she helps guide her sight-impaired grandfather through their close-knit Massachusetts community, the girl swears she can smell, hear, and even feel Kriolu. And each Saturday she comes closer to discovering where home truly lies.
What was your inspiration?
My family immigrated to the city of New Bedford, MA four generations ago. They came with the whaling industry from Cabo Verde. My grandparents were the last generation in our family to speak Kriolu. As a child, I loved to take long walks with my grandfather, "Papa", through town. We'd stop for sweets, visit family, and run errands. Along the way, Papa would tell me stories about our family and teach me words in Kriolu. Papa, who had a vision impairment, was very much a cultural guide for me. And the one who inspired my book.
I visited Cabo Verde for the first time as a teenager. Since I didn't speak the language, I had to rely on other ways to experience the place of my family's roots. I remembered what Papa taught me long ago: We can use all our senses to connect to the places around us. The mannerisms of people in Cabo Verde, the smells and tastes of food and the rhythms of its music felt like . . . home.
I will never forget the moment on my trip when a stranger looked at my face, heards my voice, and named the exact part of the Islands where my family came from dome one hundred years ago. I am convinced that culture doesn't leave us. Instead, it roots deep inside of us, linking us to the places and people we love. My book, My Heart Speaks Kriolu, is a tribute to those I've moved most.
Short Bio:
Stefanie Foster Brown is a 4th generation Cabo Verdean-American who resides in Connecticut. She's a former school psychologist turned children's book author. Stefanie has several forth-coming picture books, many inspired by her Cabo Verdean roots. Stefanie writes about family, community, connection, and love . . . ALWAYS LOVE.
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IN HONOR OF
This website is dedicated to my mom Mayzell Barros she was a amazing strong woman from the Cabo Verde Islands.
She is deeply missed and thats the reason why we want her spirit alive with Kaza Kriola Mayzell.
She would have been totally involved in the process making sure things went right. Please enjoy this site and enjoy what it brings!
I want to thank everyone involved to make this happen.
