Artist Cassi Namoda On The Joy Of Creation And Brunello Cucinelli’s SS23 Collection

Cassi Namoda has been painting her whole life. “I had a studio practice every day, from the age of four or five. When I was at high school in Uganda, I had a studio set up on my balcony overlooking the Nile river, and I would come home from school and make whatever I wanted to make.” Namoda explored writing and working in fashion – working for designers including Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Malin Landaeus’s vintage archive in Williamsburg, New York, and Henrik Vibskov, before returning to her paintbrushes.

The artist’s life has been on a stellar trajectory of late – she usually leads “quite an isolated life, but there have been a lot of airplanes recently.” In fact, she has just touched back down in New York after a whistlestop jaunt to Paris for fashion week and work meetings. Before that, she was in Senegal for a month, and Ethiopia and Cape Town to open an exhibition. “It’s been a blur,” she says.

Now, at the age of 34, Namoda is intent on finding ways to slow down and let the universe take its course. “When I was out in Senegal in the village at the Josef and Anni Albers Residency, I noticed that the people there have something that I didn't have. They are very present. And that is the richest luxury you can have. That is true spirituality. Being present.”

Born in Mozambique, as a child, Namoda lived all over the world, including Haiti, the US, Kenya, Benin and Uganda. Her American-European father, who met her mother in Mozambique, worked for a British non-profit that required the family to move around, globally and often. “I grew up bi-racial, with two parents who really came from two opposite worlds, and saw them navigate each other – my mom didn’t speak English – and also then navigate the world. I thought that living life is learning people, learning culture, and embracing everyone.”

Happiest when she is creating her small paintings and artworks on paper, Namoda is evolving her practice from figurative works, rural landscapes and urban scenes to focus more on the passer-by. A series of new works will be shown by her gallerist Xavier Hufkens at Art Basel Hong Kong this month, depicting the excitement and “pulsation” of mango season: “It happens in December and it's a festive time, certainly in Maputo. It's very striking, with deep oranges and greens. I’ve been thinking about color in relation to nostalgia,” she says. This spring, she will be setting up her new expansive studio in Massachusetts, visiting Connecticut as part of her residency with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation (which has already taken her to Ireland and Senegal), and working towards a show at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town this December. But, for now, she’s content with “a tiny desk and the brushes that I love.”

A slower pace aligns with Namoda’s clothing choices – often exquisite fabrics or love-worn favorites – which she views as “an extension of her practice.” She is drawn in particular to Brunello Cucinelli’s impeccable linens and cashmere – luxurious without being precious – and the artistry of the relaxed, androgynous silhouettes. Indeed, the brand’s SS23 collection was conceived with movement, freedom and spontaneity in mind, which neatly chime with Namoda’s ethos: she notes the perfect practicality of a sleeveless waistcoat that she wears when she’s painting.

“At some point in your life, you just really start to make things more practical for yourself. I have to be realistic in my life. My time is really spent in the countryside. When I’m in East Hampton at my current studio, I’m not in fancy restaurants or houses, I’m on the beach, hiking trails with my corgi. We live this rugged life. Usually I’m in my wellies, some kind of soft trousers and a comfy sweater, it's very casual. It’s discretion.”

“I like how clothes can surprise you. There was a crochet piece [on the shoot] with sequins… I’m going to Siwa in Egypt in a few weeks with some friends and I felt like I would wear that there. I certainly felt connected to the blazers that are cut in beautiful linen. I don’t really wear synthetics; I’m very sensitive to them.”

“I really believe dressing and material can be an extension of my practice. I make dresses every season with my tailor and they always reflect paintings I’ve made or colors I’ve painted with, even unintentionally. My dresses often correspond with my paintings and where I am in life. In the shoot, I wore a waistcoat that would be great to paint in as it’s sleeveless. Sometimes, I might paint in the clothes I’m meant to go out in, and now they have paint marks on them, but they get more beautiful: I think of it as embellishment.”

“I’ve never liked the notion that artists should be raggedy-looking. Picasso and Georgia O’Keefe were so stylish, and they are some of the best artists to have lived. Having a self-identity doesn’t mean that you’re not an artist, right? My studio is very utilitarian, as are the clothes that I wear, but I’ll always choose a beautiful blazer or sweater – and then either sweatpants or cargo pants that I’ve had for a long time.