There are words that carry such a strong cultural weight that they seem to lead automatically to a particular interpretation. In Mozambique, "xipoco" is one of them. Associated with the supernatural, with spirits and with the unknown, it is part of the collective imagination of generations. But it is precisely this reading that the Mozambican artist Ash Ismael challenges in his latest exhibition, Xipocos, which opened on 1 July at the Gallery of the Camões Cultural Centre in Maputo.
Far from seeking to depict ghosts or supernatural entities, Ash uses the concept as a metaphor for what we cannot explain about people and their behaviour. In everyday Mozambican life, the word is often used to describe unexpected, contradictory or apparently irrational attitudes. It is this human dimension that the artist seeks to explore. "From the title it seems that I am pointing to the supernatural side, but it is precisely the opposite," he explains. "Xipoco turns out to be more of an explanation than an entity as such." The exhibition presents a set of drawings that seek to reveal what remains hidden beneath the surface. They are psychological portraits, fragments of encounters, emotions and anxieties that arose from observing the people he meets every day. At the centre of the exhibition appears a phrase that immediately arouses curiosity: "It's about all of us, the liars who tell the truth."
For Ash Ismael, this idea is born of the human condition itself. According to the artist, human beings have always found in lying a survival strategy. Over time, lying to others and even to oneself has become an almost natural practice, leaving deep marks on the way we relate to the world. These contradictions find expression in his works. Rather than illustrating specific characters, the drawings reflect universal behaviours, revealing frailties, masks and inner conflicts that run through any society. Interestingly, Ash admits that he rarely starts a drawing with a definite idea. The creative process happens spontaneously, almost intuitively. "When I start drawing, I have not the faintest idea what is going to happen. I let the pen take charge and the mind go into a complete trance," he says. This surrender to the gesture makes each work unpredictable, allowing shapes, faces and symbols to emerge without prior planning. The result is a visual universe that oscillates between the abstract and the figurative, where each observer is invited to build their own reading.
Over a career of more than three decades, Ash Ismael has built a multidisciplinary path that cuts across music, photography, video, design and the visual arts. Even so, it is in drawing that he continues to find his most intimate language. "Drawing has always been the beginning of everything for me. It is something I do every day, wherever I am." This almost daily relationship with drawing helps to explain the naturalness and intensity of the works now on show, which seem to be born of a continuous flow between thought and gesture.
Although the title refers to an element deeply rooted in Mozambican oral tradition, the artist is keen to stress that his approach is not intended to interpret or revisit that cultural heritage. For him, art is born above all of imagination and abstraction, rather than from an intention to explore beliefs or traditions. For this reason too, Ash does not seek to offer closed answers. On the contrary, he accepts that the meaning of his works continues to change once they have been shown. "Sometimes even I don't know exactly what they mean. There are interpretations from the public that make more sense than my initial intention," he confesses. This openness to dialogue is part of the very experience of the exhibition, where each visitor is invited to stay in front of the works for as long as necessary to discover their own questions. For the artist, Xipocos also represents an important moment in his career. Exhibiting at the Camões Cultural Centre Gallery means reaching a platform of great prestige and international reach, opening doors to new opportunities and future collaborations.
The programme also includes a complementary event entitled A Night of Cinematic Audio, in which Ash Ismael presents an experimental multidisciplinary video that combines musical composition, orchestra, electronics, video and artistic animation. The session ends with a conversation open to the public about the creative processes, the techniques used and the behind-the-scenes of the audiovisual production. More than a drawing exhibition, Xipocos stands as an invitation to introspection. Among unexpected figures, spontaneous strokes and multiple interpretations, Ash Ismael reminds us that perhaps the greatest mysteries do not belong to the world of spirits, but to the people we meet every day, ourselves included.
