The earth was his first canvas. As a child, with imagination dominating his thoughts, he looked for alternatives for drawing the world around him. Gilberto Muzilene Macane, or simply Muzilene, as he is known in artistic circles, was summoned from an early age to live in the world of the arts. At just seven years old, with neither canvas nor paper, he made full use of his creativity to communicate with the world. He carefully made his drawings in the sand and, despite his age, managed to draw plenty of praise, turning the ground into a new place to be contemplated, a natural gallery filled each day with different drawings brimming with expressiveness.
“I like to use mixed media, and I like even more to fuse various techniques that I create myself”
“It all began when I was a kid; I always liked drawing. I started by drawing in the sand. At the time, I had no materials and so I made my drawings in the sand. People always appreciated them and were amazed,” said Muzilene. His inclination for drawing was obvious. When he was in sixth grade, he was rated one of the best pupils in aesthetic education. Having discovered his talent, one of his teachers advised him to enrol at the school of visual arts. “When I finished primary school, I entered the National School of Visual Arts, where I trained. I am a graphic designer, but art weighed more than the training. What I do is design, but I do not use the computer, I use my hand. I do design by hand,” he said cheerfully.
While training at the National School of Visual Arts (ENAV), Muzilene was also taking his first steps in an artistic career. In 2000 he began to approach his art more professionally; drawing and painting already dominated his being. His first work paints his memory with colourful recollections. Muzilene has not forgotten the piece that made him believe he was on the right path. “It was a contemporary work in which I used mixed media. First I cut out a drawing from a magazine, the drawing of a child crying sadly, fallen on the ground. I stuck it on a canvas. Then I took some matchsticks and stuck them on the canvas too. I lit the matchsticks. The flames produced a beautiful effect on the canvas. I drew a bird beside it, painted the canvas and made a slightly reddish background. I used a variety of techniques in a single work, and the result was surprising,” said the artist.
Now 37 years old, Muzilene is always looking for ways to give his work a distinctive touch, whether through the emotions he seeks to convey or through the techniques he has created himself to achieve greater expressiveness. “I like to use mixed media, and I like even more to fuse various techniques that I create myself.” Such is the case with the “wet” technique and batik on canvas, the latter inspired by textile dyeing techniques.
The hands that make art speak
At the start of his career, Muzilene sold his works on the street, through young resellers who stationed themselves in Independence Square and around the city of Maputo. His boldness and creativity make him stronger by the day, colouring his trajectory with important achievements. His unmistakable presence at Baía Mall in the city of Maputo is now not only another addition to his list of achievements but also treats those who visit the shopping centre to a dose of art. Muzilene paints in full view of everyone who walks along the corridors of that shopping centre. He paints a bit of everything; however, the human warmth and the comings and goings of the people who cross his daily life there led him to focus more on portraiture. “I managed to persuade the centre’s management to let me perform live, something no artist had done at this location. I felt tempted to draw people. I specialised in portraits, something I enjoy immensely, and I feel that people enjoy it too,” said Muzilene, the artist who seeks inspiration in everyday life and presents his art through portraits, landscapes and abstract work. The expressiveness and naturalness of the works take his output beyond mere portraits, turning it into images that speak without uttering a single word. The faces he draws summon anyone to a moment of contemplation. “What I do is hard to define. It is not just portraiture. It is portraiture and something more.”
With more than twenty years in the art world, Muzilene is always looking for ways to make his mark ever more present. He has already taken part in three solo exhibitions and a few group ones. His first appearance came in 2012, in a collaboration with João Timane, in the exhibition entitled “Despertando olhares” (Awakening Gazes), which was on show at the BCI media library in 2012. From then on, he never stopped. Three years later he launched his first solo exhibition, entitled “Hlhavutelo”, a Changana word meaning “revelation”. After several years without painting regularly and away from the arts, he decided to return, offering the public an exhibition entitled “Massungulo”, meaning “Restart”, showing his rebirth. His latest solo exhibition, “Nós e o futuro sustentável” (We and the Sustainable Future), took place in 2017. It portrayed the daily lives of Mozambicans, reflecting on the reuse of materials and objects through recycling for a safer future for the planet.
And because the sky is the limit, Muzilene wants to go far and keep on flying. He wants to spread his art to the four corners of the world. “I want to fight to take on the international market. I am making an effort to start betting on new markets. I do not know how I will do it, but I believe that wanting to is already a step.” While preparing for the journey to the future, Muzilene builds the present on firm foundations. “I want people to know one day that a Mozambican, with his strength and determination, managed to reach markets abroad. That is one of my goals. In the meantime I try to give my best in the work I do.” Muzilene has very well-defined goals and dreams, and one dream in particular never leaves his thoughts. “I dream of having a gallery, a space where people can come in and appreciate my art, Muzilene Arts. This is my greatest dream,” he concluded.
