UPCOMING ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

MICHAEL SCHWARZE - PHOTOGRAPHER AND FILMMAKER

Germany

My name is Michael Schwarze, and I’m a freelance photographer and filmmaker based in Hamburg, Germany, with a Master’s in Photographic Studies. I collaborate with international clients and magazines on both commercial and editorial projects. My artistic work explores experimental visuals on themes ranging from sociocultural issues to the human psyche, approached with depth and sensitivity. In my creative process, I use aleatoric principles, Cut-Up, and Objet trouvé methods to blend diverse image sources and materials.

TIMOTHÉ GATTO – CINEMA WORKER AND FILM MAKER

France

Tim is a french cinema worker and film maker. His journey through audiovisual got him to experiment theatre, fiction, documentary, acting, scenography, music video, music events organisation... 

Passionate about languages and traveling amongst many other subjects, always jumping from one platform to another, following his curiosity, interest, and understanding of human behaviour, Tim sees himself like a chameleon, a fluid that matches his environment and takes spontaneously the spot that imposes itself on him, from which he will tell the story that he feels in asking to be told. He does so from his perspective but in a very eurythmic way - sometimes very egocentrically, sometimes fading himself completely. 

After working on movie sets for a couple of years, he currently is in a one year stay in Brazil, opening himself on new ways of expression, working on the core of any of his arts : what he has to say, how to express it in the most personal way.

Participating in the Casa Na Ilha writing workshop is a way for him to experiment his storytelling.

With his writing, Tim covers mainly his own contemplation of life mixed with introspective thoughts on one's feelings and purpose, reflexion on social ties, and adventure fantasies with a craving for intensity in the very experimentation of life.

ALEXA DRUYANOFF - PAINTER

USA

Alexa is a painter and visual artist from Los Angeles. Years of critique groups, art classes, and late nights of painting in her garage have allowed her to learn more about herself. Her work parallels the exploration she's experienced in her identity. Instead of obscuring the parts of herself that are complicated, she brings them to life in yellow ocres and alizarin blues.

IG - @artdruyanoff 

www.alexadruyanoff.com

CAROLINE KEEFE - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

U.S.A

Caroline Keefe (b. 1998, Camden Maine, USA) is an emerging multidisciplinary artist: primarily a painter and writer currently but also a sculptor, ceramicist, figure skater, and amateur violinist. She lives and works on the coast of Maine as an artist and a tradeswoman doing painting, carpentry, and gardening. She is a recent graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a degree in anthropology. 

Caroline’s work is focused on integrating these various fields anthropology, the trades, and art into a cohesive creative pursuit that is infused with spirituality, with a specific focus on the reclamation of feminine power. Caroline believes that creativity is a spirit-based process that can affect change, like magic. Claiming and exploring the title of witch with its many societal implications is a theme her work explores, as well as solar and lunar cycles, esoteric and alchemical symbols, practices and traditions of mysticism, rituals, and the ways in which feminine power has been historically subverted. The work is nature based and figurative. 

During her stay at Casa na Ilha, Caroline will be exploring the flora and fauna of the area, connecting with the spirit of the land and waters to infuse their frequencies with her work. She is curious about the difference in light, color, cultural and spiritual traditions and hopes to deepen her connection with Brazil after having lived in Salvador, Bahia for a year in 2014. 

ANNA MONGILLO - WRITER

USA

Anna Mongillo is an emerging writer of fiction based in Brooklyn, NY. 

Her work explores embedded patterns, frameworks that lie beyond the rational, and the construction, symbolism, and representation of reality.

She graduated in 2018 from New York University with an individualized interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree that examined similar themes. 

At Casa Na Ilha she will be working on her first novel while seeking inspiration from the natural world alongside other writers and artists. 

SIR ROMY – SONGWRITTING AND PERFORMANCE

France

Sir Romy grew up in Marseille, France, where her parents' records filled the house with the sounds of Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles. These legendary voices left a deep impression on the young artist, who kept soul and blues as her artistic compass. 

At the age of 7, she began taking singing lessons and made her first stage appearance at 10 in a musical theater troupe. In secondary school, she received classical training, which allowed her to perfect her vocal skills through opera arias and gain a solid grounding in music theory. She then joined several jazz groups in high school before moving to Brighton, UK, to study songwriting and perform her own compositions on open mics at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM). 

After returning to France in 2020, Sir Romy has been working on her first solo project and touring various venues. In addition, she collaborates with other artists on different phases of work such as writing, topline, and composition. Her first singles were released in 2023, and an EP is set to release in the spring of 2024. 

For her first project, Sir Romy explores different musical aesthetics that correspond to the themes she addresses. Through her songs, she evokes the doubts, anxieties, and expectations of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood. Her powerful yet gentle voice conveys her suffering, celebrates her joys, and morphs to the rhythm of her mindscape, creating a contrast of light and shadow.

During her stay at Casa na Ilha, she plans to create new songs, rest, and seek inspiration from nature and other artists. 

SARAH CARRIER - PHOTOGRAPHER 

Canada/France

Sarah Carrier was born and raised in Quebec, Canada. As early as she could remember, Sarah has always been playing with her dad’s camera, capturing her surroundings. She moved to Paris at the age of 19 where she worked as a journalist for the music magazine Les Inrockuptibles. After two years, she started working for the French-Japanese brand Maison Kitsuné where she handled their cultural & lifestyle programing worldwide for 11 years. This experience had her traveling around the globe, meeting creatives from all fields, and capturing spontaneously daily scenes and portraits.

The travels made Sarah discover and experience various cultures and the art of living. She developed a more defined knowledge in art, design and architecture, and realized how strongly they connect through each other, especially in their our own individual space.

After hosting two exhibitions in Paris (2019, 2021) featuring a collection of self-developed analog photographies, Sarah decided to go independent in July 2023 to focus on her photography path. She is based in France and currently working on a photo project called « Artists at home » showcasing how artists cultivate their creativity and personal space through interior design.

SUSANNE MARINS - ACTOR & SINGER SONGWRITER

Finland

Susanne Marins is an actor and singer songwriter from Vaasa, Finland.

She graduated from the Theatre Academy in Helsinki in 2005 and has since worked at several theaters in Finland. In spring 2022, she was awarded the Stina Krook Scholarship for her performing arts. 

In addition to acting, she has made music from her poems, storytelling performances and the art film project KINTSUGI -Artfilms about loss. Right now she is working on a Musical storytelling performance named WILD, about sexuality, liberation and anger.

She focuses on the vulnerability and complexity of the human being when creating her art. She wants to talk about what hurts and touches, what we do not always dare to talk about.

At the writing workshop at Casa na Ilha she will start a project with the aim of creating a cross-art performance inspired by the work of artist Patti Smith.

Instagram: @susannemarins

www.susannemarins.com

ZEINA FAHED - DANCER & WRITER

Palestina/Lebanon

Zeina is Palestinian born and raised in Lebanon, while happy about her roots and belonging, she also considers herself a citizen of the world. Zeina has more than a decade of professional work experience spanning various thematic and technical domains in the fields of environmental health, humanitarian aid, environmental justice, and development. Zeina is also an amateur dancer and writer. She has a passion for dancing and dabke (Levantine folk dance), and she has been dancing multiple styles since a young age, ranging from oriental, latin, and contemporary dance. Additionally, Zeina has an interest in writing, specifically about her realizations, contemplations, and beliefs. Zeina is a passionate positive person who likes to engage in as many experiences as possible while being alive and capable, on several levels, be it physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. She admires art and culture in their different forms, music, poetry, theater, food, etc., and likes to explore countries and cultures. Brazil has been on her travel bucket list, and what better way to visit it while joining a residency, sharing home with other artists, exchanging and creating unforgettable memories.

ROSANNE LAMMERS -VISUAL ARTIST

The Netherlands 

I’ve loved making art and painting for as long as I can remember. In the past few years, I’ve traveled to different parts of the world, and all landscapes and cultures I’ve seen have influenced my creativity in many ways. My inspiration comes mainly from nature and the intricate patterns that exist around us. In my work, I aim to capture the spirituality and mysticism I feel in the world around us, blending the beauty of the physical with the ethereal and unseen.

IG - @roorooorror

BRE’ - MULTIMEDIA ABOLITIONIST ARTIST

Turtle Island - Northern Paiute Land/Western Shoshone Lands 

Hi im Bre’ im 24yrs old currently residing in turtle island [america] on northern Paiute land/ western Shoshone lands commonly known as Las Vegas, NV. I'm a black femme multimedia abolitionist artist. The mediums I work with range from digital/physical collaging, photography, oil/acrylic painting, writing, beading, sewing, ink, wire wrapping from recycled copper, upcycling, bass,drum, and dance. I love the outdoors doing archery, going hiking, skating, swimming. Nature heals me. I am a poet, a water protector, a land defender who will always fight for climate/land justice & human rights for all.

SUSAN DE CASTRO - VISUAL ARTIST

U.S.A.

Susan is an assistant professor and Program Coordinator of Digital Multimedia Design at Touro University in New York City. She has been teaching art and digital design classes there for 28 years, and during a Spring sabbatical, Susan will go to Casa Na Ilha, in February, 2025.  Susan will be returning to Casa Na Ilha for the second time.

She has a BFA from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and an MA degree from New York University. Susan has also studied at the School of Visual Arts,  and is a member and student of the Art Student's League of New York. She regularly exhibits in group shows with the National Association of Women Artists, the Art Student’s League of New York, and on Fire Island in New York. Susan received a Merit's Scholarship from the Art Students League, a Red Dot (Best in Show) and honorable mentions for her paintings in the Art Students League's Concours Shows.  She paints in oil and mixed media. A recurring theme in her work revolves around her passion for Brazil; the nature, the colors, and Rio Carnaval. During her residency in Ilhabela, Susan plans to immerse herself in the natural surroundings and local activities of Ilhabela, and to interpret her visions into new, energetic, works.

TEKA MARUCCI - SINGER

Brazil

Solo singer, professional since 2019, developed projects such as Teka Trio, Duo da Ilha e Forró Cururuá, focused on MPB, forró and samba. She participated in music festivals in Ilhabela and won the 1st A Voz da Ilha Festival, in 2022. In 2023 she completed singing courses at EMESP Tom Jobim. She has some music recorded in partnership with composer friends and is currently developing a job with composer Felipe França, of authorial music, for which she was invited to perform album songs. Currently, with a rich repertoire in Brazil, she works with weddings and presentations in bars and corporate events.

Teka will be joining us in the writing workshop.

LORIEN RAIN - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

U.S.A.

Lorien Rain is a multidisciplinary artist, whose practice incorporates dance, painting, hand-drawn animation and performance. She draws inspiration from moments of intimacy between people in her everyday life. Her work depicts these figures, as well as the spaces between them, in order to reveal the tenderness and hesitation which these moments can hold. Lorien is currently living and working in Portland, Maine. 

@lorienrain

MONICA MCGARRY - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST & EDUCATOR

Canada

Monica McGarry is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Vancouver, Canada. She works in a variety of mediums, including collage, graphic design, video, and social practice. She currently works in inclusive education, with a focus in neurodiversity. Monica is interested in the intersection of art, community, and social change. 

IG - @decoupagedump

JUDE MARKEY-SMITH - MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERFORMANCE ARTIST

U.S.A

Jude Markey-Smith is an emerging multidisciplinary performance artist from New York.  As creator and interpreter, his dynamic works often combine music, dance and text to explore issues of historical fiction and masculinity. 

In his practice, Jude strives to expose truths. He does so in a nonlinear fashion. This investigation can take on many forms, but often presents itself as a multifaceted presentation–– one that requires deep research and then comes alive in kinesthetic space. As a maker, he is interested in defying disciplinary categories in order to explore the unbounded field of performance, and its unparalleled potential for relevance. He creates through calculated preparation, an embrace of spontaneity and sheer force of will. He collaborates deeply, learns from others and responds accordingly. What emerges is always unknown, but meaningful and intriguing to him.

He graduated from Bard College with a BA in Multidisciplinary Studies: Dramatic Arts and Histories, where he won the Ana Itelman Prize For Choreography for his theses: End Of The Trail and Ghost Town, and was most recently LaPlasita’s first artist-in-residence in Seville, Spain where he developed a work entitled Limites (453”). He will work on doing experiential research and generating material for his new dance-theater piece on distorted themes of paradise, entitled Fountain Of Youth, in his time at Casa Na Ilha. 

NOELLE ASTRID ONDO METHOGO - PHOTOGRAPHER

Gabon

I am a photographer from Libreville, Gabon, whose artistic journey began at the tender age of 14. My art is a vibrant mood board of influences, blending elements from movies, magazines, music videos, drawings and fashion shows of the early 2000s and 90s. This fusion creates a nostalgic but contemporary aesthetic in my art.

Specializing in portrait photography, my photography is mainly to celebrate womanhood, beauty, and strength. My images have dynamic compositions, close ups and striking colors such as red and blues.

I love blending traditional photography with digital techniques I have learned over the years with Photoshop. I often use these editing techniques to give my work a timeless, vintage magazine vibe.

I am currently based in Houston, Texas, where I am completing my bachelors. I have been balancing trying to start a photography page and careers with my studies. After graduating in the spring of 2025, I am very excited and honored to travel to Ilhabela to fully dedicate all my time on my art and building my career.

IEISHA SWEATMON - SCULPTOR 

U.S.A.

Ieisha Sweatmon is a sculptor born and raised south of Atlanta, Georgia. She has been sculpting for 2.5 years.  Her sculptures are an expression of herself and how she views the beauty of nature and blackness. She loves to show the beauty of her culture in her art. Her goal is to start traveling the world to learn from other African descendants in other countries. By learning more about their culture and experiences, she hopes to create many sculptures to display the uniqueness of blackness around the world. 

TIM GRIESHABER - VISUAL ARTIST

Germany 

I was born in 2006 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Since my childhood, I have had difficulties with socialization and expressing emotions. During the Corona pandemic in 2020, I spent a lot of time alone in my room, which led me to start painting. The canvas has now become my favorite medium of expression. I almost exclusively paint in large formats, using a mix of acrylic, oil paint, oil pastel, markers, and graffiti. My expressive works usually reflect my temporary existence. I process experiences such as police violence, the search for an exciting life, personalities, parties, and the things that accompany a teenager growing up. The associated emotions and feelings can be felt in the paintings. So far, I have had three exhibitions, including one in Zurich, Switzerland. At the beginning of 2026, I plan to study art in Frankfurt or Vienna, at the university where Daniel Richter teaches.

NERJIS HASSAN - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

Iraq/Canada

Nerjis, an artist and a recent art history graduate possesses a multifaceted creative identity. A self-taught artist driven by an insatiable curiosity, Nerjis thrives on exploration and learning. Her artistry is a testament to her penchant for diving headfirst into new processes, allowing experimentation and imperfection to flourish. Themes of duality, nature, and the surreal form the cornerstone of these creations, offering viewers a thought-provoking glimpse into her unique perspective, inviting the viewer to delve into their own. Nerjis' journey is a fusion of academic knowledge and self-discovery, resulting in a body of work that creatively weaves together diverse influences.

IG: MAD.DUALITY

CHARLOTTE HUG - INTER-MEDIA ARTIST, COMPOSER, IMPROVISER AND MUSICIAN 

Switzerland 

   Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council supports this residency.

Swiss-born Charlotte Hug is an inter-media artist, composer, improviser and musician of the extreme. Her innovative solo performances in distinctive locations have created an international furore. With her inter-medial compositions, room-scores and Son-Icons (visual sounds) she created a new genre of multidisciplinary music and art. Having completed her studies in fine arts and classical music, she won divers awards such as “artist- residencies in London, Paris, Berlin, Johannesburg, Shanghai. She was “artiste étoile” (star artist) at the world-renown Lucerne Festival and nominated for the Classic:Next - Innovation Award. Hug is a lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Science and Art and head of the international postgraduate studies Creation & Scenario in Music at the Zurich University of the Arts. Hug is fully active as a concert performer, soloist, improviser, composer and conductor of her own works at major festivals worldwide. www.charlottehug.com

Specific locations and water in its various aggregate states are the main inspiration for my transdisciplinary work as a musician, composer, improviser and visual artist. Working outside will be the focus during the residency. I will record, play, sing, and draw in nature, close to and in the Atlantic Ocean. I am excited to create and start a new artistic transdisciplinary work, TIDAL SHAPING, at the residency at Casa Na Ilha. 

PAZ GRIOT - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

USA

Paz Griot is a spoken word poet, visual artist, actor, playwright, and performer originally from New York City. He has been living in Istanbul since 2014 and traveling the world since high school, including the United States Peace Corps and the University of Hyderabad, India. He has written and published several poems, performed in countless plays and open mic events, written seven plays and exhibited his paintings, collages, and sculptures in six gallery shows in New York City at the Art Students League. He was awarded the Blue Dot Award for innovation in visual arts in 2011 by the Art Students League and has been published in the Bosphorus Review of Books and the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. He has worked in a variety of mediums, including watercolor and acrylic, and enjoys painting in both abstract and realistic styles with elements of spirituality, world exploration, architecture, and nature. His inspirations include Marc Chagall, Faith Ringgold, Paul Klee, Auguste Rodin, Izamu Noguchi, Claude Monet, David Hockney, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Frida Kahlo

During his time in residence, Paz intends to create a series of paintings with elements from art of the African diaspora, implementing the powerful, palpable symbolism of adinkra, the Orishas, and Candomble sacred stones combined with iridescent landscape paintings.

Paz has been captivated by the culture of Brazil for many years now. He always found that exploring cultures different from my own and landscapes and cities outside of my familiar comfort zone allows me to discover new approaches and perspectives that help me along my creative journey. He believes Brazil's brilliant capoeira dance and martial arts traditions, vibrant samba rhythms, rich spirituality in the Orishas of the Candomble tradition, and colorful landscapes can provide immense inspiration for new works. Last year, he had the opportunity to travel around Ghana, Rwanda, and Tanzania and was inspired profoundly by the spiritual meanings, intricate designs, and vibrant colors of the art he was seeing, as demonstrated in Ashante adinkra symbols and kente cloth. Brazil has a rich African arts heritage and community, and he believes this will inspire new work as he continues his creative journey.

www.pazgriot.com

ROJIA DADASHZADEH - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

Canada

Rojia Dadashzadeh, a multidisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, is known for her imaginative and whimsical pieces in sculpture, painting, drawing, and collage. Her art has been featured in various publications and exhibited across North America. For over a decade, she has taught visual and culinary arts at an International Baccalaureate school. With degrees from the University of Waterloo, Sheridan College, Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and UBC, including a Master of Arts in Art Education, she seamlessly integrates her teaching and artistic practice, each informing and enriching the other.

ALEX BENNING – AUTHOR, COMPOSER, AND PERFORMER

France

Alex Benning is an artist of Franco-Dutch origin who works as an author, composer, and performer. He creates music in a multi-colored Alt-rock universe and has a patient and meticulous approach to his craft. 

Alex's music is characterized by a distinctive phrasing and undulating timbre that ranges from pop-rock choruses to blues ballads. As a producer, multi- instrumentalist, and singer, he always welcomes his artist friends into his studio
« Tamperproof »: they constantly come and go, helping him turn his wildest ideas into reality. 

Like Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad & The Queen) or producer Marc Ronson, Alex Benning bounces from aesthetic to aesthetic depending on the artists he works with. 

Alex's next project will be highly collaborative and will explore the theme of love in all its forms. Blues, Pop, Reggae, and other sounds will be summoned to speak this universal language. 

To pursue his passion for writing new songs, Alex is ready to immerse himself in the serene surroundings of Casa Na Ilha and embrace the creative energy of new artistic connections. 

DEBRA STUCKGOLD - INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST AND EDUCATOR

United States

Debra Stuckgold is an interdisciplinary artist and educator. Her multi-media work focuses on the interconnection between human beings, their place of origin, and the changing landscape. For more than two decades, she has been creating installations that transform public and private spaces using visual media ranging from kinetic shadow displays to wall drawings and cyanotypes that address geo-political themes. Trained in somatic-based Expressive Arts, she facilitates collective art projects within community groups and refugee camps.

During her time at Casa na Ilha, she will be using the ocean waters to assist her with ephemeral drawings of maps and the implications and possibilities ignited by the breaking down of walls and borders.

www.stuckgold.com

SOFIA LOVE – MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST & DESIGNER

U.S.A.

Sofia Love (b. 1999, Boston, MA) is a multidisciplinary artist and designer tackling themes of identity, perception, queer expression and cultural aestheticism. Born and raised in Boston, but with deep family ties to the Mexican border town of Laredo, TX, Love’s acrylic paintings serve as a negotiation between ancestral memory and contemporary identity. The cowgirl (or vaquera) recurs throughout her practice – gun slinging, brown, and frequently nude – framed by expanses of desert. She’s a real, historical cowgirl. She’s the artist traversing her own imagination. For Love, vaquera is an object of desire and an extension of herself. 

Love received her BFA in Integrated Design from Parsons School of Design (New York, NY) with a concentration in Fine Art and a minor in Latin American Art and Design History in 2022. Love is the Digital Director at Sargent’s Daughters (New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA). Love had her debut solo exhibition VAQUERA in March 2023 at Shelter Gallery (New York, NY). She lives and works in New York.

KATARINA BISHOP - PHOTOGRAPHY

Serbia/U.S.A

Katarina Bishop is a color analog photographer. She was raised by her mother from Serbia and her father from the United States. Growing up, she visited Serbia as often as possible to visit friends and family. At a young age she became a Serbian citizen. This officially made Serbia a second home and eventually, the conceptual foundation for her photography. 

Her work explores the themes of home, change and romanticization. She seeks to have a deeper understanding of what it means to exist in our transient world. Where is home when it could be anywhere? Is home not a structure but a feeling of safety? Bishop wants to conceptually explore the idea of home as well as immerse herself in the journey. Her most recent move was across the United States from Boston, Massachusetts to Tucson, Arizona. This dramatic shift in environment provided the inspiration needed to continue her work. 

She holds a BFA in Photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology and intends to pursue her MFA in Photography. In 2023 her work was exhibited both nationally and internationally in seven exhibitions. 

VICTORIA CHAVEZ - MULTIMEDIA ARTIST

U.S.A.

Victoria Chavez is a multi-media artist who dives into themes of spirituality, intellect, psychological behaviors, and mysticism. She has studies interior and graphic design. Her pieces often feature surreal and psychedelic imagery, which is imbued with spiritual symbolism and meaning. Through her art, Victoria aims to inspire others to explore the mystical and spiritual aspects of their own lives and to uncover mental and spiritual blockages that are stopping them from becoming their most happy and successful version of themselves.

HOLLY SEDGWICK - PAINTER

Canada/USA

My painting practice is an exploration of the unconscious and its effect on the relationship to people, places and things. Spontaneous life events evolve into imaginative environments, rich with vibrant colours in acrylic and oil, watercolour and pen. Dreams of Love, Humanity and Nature, Mythology and Spirituality are common themes. Currently, I am exploring the surrendering and uplifting of the spirit in relationship with Nature.

EMMA CHLUMECKY - OIL PAINTER & FIBRE ARTIST

Canada

Emma Chlumecky, a 21-year-old Canadian oil painter and fibre artist based in Windsor, Ontario, is currently in her thesis year pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Windsor.  She specializes in oil painting, tufting, and sculpture, often combining these techniques into one artwork. Inspired by impressionism, she blends her realistic portraiture painterly style with touches of collage, fibers, and illustration, creating a distinctive style. 

Emma’s creative practice delves into the intricate nuances of the coming-of-age experience, suffused with an undercurrent of innocence and a poignant touch of nostalgia. Through Emma’s work, she narrates their unique individuality, emphasizing the aspects that make each person truly special. Drawing inspiration from contemporary romanticism, interpreting these moments through the perspective of admiration. Emma’s vision is a heartfelt attempt to evoke profound emotions, particularly the bittersweetness that accompanies the inevitable passage of time, a sentiment deeply intertwined with human experience.

Emma plans to paint numerous mock-ups and works based on her experience in this little corner of Brazil at Casa Na Ilha. Her time at Casa Na Ilha will create an interesting period in her development as an artist.

LEXIE LEONARD – PHOTOGRAPHY 

Australia

Lexie Leonard (b. 2002) is a third year photography student at RMIT, based in Melbourne, Australia. She aspires to keep working with photography in global projects and make her debuts in publications and exhibitions in the near future. 

Starting out in amateur travel photography, her work captures the majesty of nature with the chaos of human development. Now, her work is largely centred around abstractions of landscape and urban sprawl, inspired by her metropolitan upbringing and a claim to find her artistic voice. Recently, she's been experimenting with alternative processes to build variety in her work, as well as with portraiture, by making more personal series as a means of connecting with her loved-ones. 

Her artistic endeavours will take her to Brazil next year, as she will take part in an artist residency in Ilhabela Island, São Paulo, hoping to broaden her skills and creative perspective. 

GAVIN KEW - PAINTING AND PRINTMAKING

Zimbabwe/New Zealand

I am an Artist and a teacher. I was born in Zimbabwe and was trained at Rhodes university in South Africa. I now live and work in New Zealand and I work in ceramics painting and printmaking. I tend to work in cycles and themes and at the moment I am working on a series of prints inspired by the story of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. I have been fascinated by finials which is the ornament at the top of buildings and how this narrative is a reflection of the culture of the place it is situated. I plain to travel around Europe for 4 months from May and document these finials on my journey. These drawings and photographs will result in ceramic work that I intend to make on my return to New Zealand. 

ANDERS MCDONALD - PHOTOGRAPHER

Australia

Anders McDonald is a photographer with over 35 years photographic experience. Starting with film and a home dark room, he has transitioned to the digital era and is now skilled in all facets of photography. Anders has won recognition for his photography by the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers and works from his studio in Warburton, just outside Melbourne, Australia.

"This year represents the first time post Covid that I am able to concentrate on a new environmental project about the impact of the Anthropocene on the marine / water environment. My concern is that the issue is “out of sight, out of mind” compared with other issue we have direct exposure to like global warming, climate change, the decline in trust in institutions, Trumpism, the ugly and unsustainable growth out on the urban fringes of our cities and more.

You can see the body of my work at www.andersart.gallery.

Proposal for my work at the residency

Whilst all these things confront us on dry land, under the surface of the water the destruction continues "out of sight". Destruction of the physical environment, lifeforms in the oceans, habitats, plastics and other forms of dumping our trash go largely un-noticed except by those people and communities directly affected.

So, with my camera and underwater housing, I plan to shoot in the “near urban environment” to document what is happening globally and locally. If possible, I hope to do this with the collaboration of local folks who would be prepared to get in to the water with me. I am happy to try and source these people myself, or accept any advice you may have about sourcing local people.

If a visual artist can bring the ‘out of sight” into sight, then perhaps the conversations and actions can change. My aim is to make a small contribution to that.

I have visualized several approaches to this from the abstract which will make the viewer do the work, to the caricature of media advertising of “glamorous” locations, resorts, excursions etc. I would like to build on the ideas with the folks on the residency to get a more solid notion of the way the project will be styled, but it will definitely be an eye opener.

KEHINDE TEMITOPE AWOYELE - VISUAL ARTIST 

Nigeria

Kehinde Temitope Awoyele, female artist from Lagos, Nigeria.  A visual artist, a craftperson and all round creative individual. I owns a media company: Kennies Media Art located in the Central Business District of Lagos, Nigeria. Having more than 10 years’ experience working with clients from all works of life in solving their most difficult concepts, leveraging expertise in the field of visual arts, user experience while employing the best tool for the job.

I use digital graphical tools to bring ideas to life in the most convincing form possible. I see everything in their art form first before anything else. I create business promotional materials, souvenirs and help startup business owner to create eye-popping design for their business needs. I explore new creativity every moment and at every opportunity I get.

In the process of exploration, I started resin craft and working with epoxy resin among other medium, been a growing trend in the art world and using it to create keychains, wall murals, trays, ornament e.t.c.  make me see the other side of me in the creative journey.

CASA NA IIHA Art in Residency programe would help me keep in touch with the world outside my own where I will met with new peers and mentors and it will offer me time to think, space to work and peace of mind for my creative process. I will achieve a lot after the duration of my stay and it will be a memorable experience there.

HEATHER DEYLING - MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

U.S.A.

Heather Deyling is an artist whose current and ongoing body of work, the “Invented Hybrids” series, includes sculpture, installation, works on paper and glass. Her studio practice is inspired by research and observation of natural forms, eco-fiction and climate change. She earned an MFA in painting from Tyler School of Art, Temple University and a BFA from Kent State University. Deyling has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the United States. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at the Peninsula Museum of Art in Burlingame, CA and group exhibitions at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, San Jose, CA and the Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, AL. Upcoming projects include solo exhibitions at Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Greenville, SC and Day and Night Projects in Atlanta, GA, as well as  two-person exhibitions at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, Athens, GA and 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL. Deyling lives and works in Atlanta. 

FREWUHN -  MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

U.S.A.

Frewuhn is a multidisciplinary artist immersed in expanding the ways we listen and expand through improvisation. She graduated from Fisk University with a B.A. in History, and Vanderbilt University with a Master of Theological Studies: Religion in the Arts in Nashville, TN. She utilizes performance as a “vehicle of benevolence,” applying it as process making/ tool shaping methodology.

It is within spaces of retreat and experimentation the process of her work evolves the material. During her time at Casa na Ilha, Frewuhn will rest and heal in nature, experiment with movement, field recordings and take the time to develop a theater of sound.

SAMANTHA DA SILVA – VISUAL ARTIST

Brazil/ U.S.A

Beneath her amiable personality burns a fire to express life through art and dialog. Samantha da Silva (born 1978 Santos, São Paulo, Brazil) is a professional artist and educator living and working in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. 

Having traveled extensively and acquired (nearly) three citizenships, da Silva's paintings are a visual narrative of unrelenting feminine power and the exploration of the universal experiences of abandonment, heritage and the eternal sense of home. Against the remarkable backdrop of the American West - a place as fierce as it is exquisite - da Silva navigates her paintings with ritual, grace and quiet force.

Da Silva infuses her environment into her work using: iron-rich Utah dirt, salt from The Great Salt Lake, plaster, repurposed paint, metallic pigments and newspaper to create ethereal, textured abstracts.

www.samanthadasilva.com

JUDITH KLAIN – PAINTER

U.S.A.

Judith Klain began painting as a teenager when she attended New York City’s Cooper Union weekend program for high school students in 1975. After many years’ hiatus, (raising and fostering kids, working in public health and homelessness services, getting a Masters degree…life) she began painting again when she found a community of other artists at San Francisco Art Institutes Adult Continuing Education.

“I felt as if I my soul got re-awakened. The kinship and stimulation I get from my teacher and fellow cohort of artists makes it possible for me to consistently experiment and grow in my work.”

Judith works in oils, acrylics, pastels, cold wax and collage. Her paintings which are abstract and abstract figurative depict the unconscious and pre-verbal path of her life.  Her bold use of color and texture explode in emotion and vulnerability.

“The evolution of my work corresponds with my emotional and spiritual development. The arts have provided me the medium to resolve early traumatic experiences of which I have no words to express cognitively.  It is cathartic.”

Judith’s work is shown regularly at City Arts Gallery, an artist’s coop in St. San Francisco. You can also schedule an appointment to view her work at her studio.

 After retiring in 2016, Judith attended Tamalpa Institute and was certified as an Expressive Art Therapist. She works with clients one-on-one and is also available to do community workshops on relevant social and personal issues.

Art Heals!!!

While at Na Ilha Artist residency, Judith hopes to be inspired by the natural beauty, rhythm and life of the island and to incorporate that into her paintings and drawings. She is also hoping to collaborate with NGO’s through expressive arts to support social and personal causes through a joint yet to be determined artistic project.   

SOFÍA ALRICH VEYTIA - PAINTER AND PRINTMAKER

Mexico

I explore the essence of our universe through amorphous figures made up of light and darkness. My current practice revolves around the relationship between physics, hermeticism, alchemy, and spirituality, focused on vibration, the spirit, and transcendence as dialogical concepts between the fields mentioned. I work mainly with abstraction in painting and printmaking as a means to represent what is outside of our sensible plane.

My interest in the similarities between Hermeticism and Quantum Physics is that they both look for the essential connections in the universe, one from a spiritual viewpoint and the other scientific.  I believe that it is essential for human beings to understand that we are all connected, and not just to each other but also to nature. The main problems that we face today as mankind is that we are not empathetic and respectful  to others and to the world we live in. man is not the center of this life, we are not superior beings, and we have to stop treating the world and the earth as something inferior to us, which has no apparent "consciousness". If we open our eyes and understand that we are all in essence the same we will treat our planet and all that lives within it with greater respect. We are intrinsically connected to every living being, and everything that exists.

This is what I seek to convey through the artistic representations that I will make during the residency. Through paintings and drawings. The series will continue a current exploration of representing "windows" to another reality, to the spiritual dimension of nature, to show that it is as alive as we are. 

Instagram @sofialrich

ALAIA DE SANTIS – MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

U.K.

Alaia De Santis is a multi faceted London based artist. Alaia began her arts education at Hampstead Fine Arts, before moving on to study at the City and Guilds of London Art School. Alaia then went on to specialize in both print making at Parson School of Design and painting at the University of Arts London Camberwell. Alaia’s work explores the history of popular images and iconography through collage, film and painting. Her works touch on an uncanny kind of familiarity juxtaposed with commercial surreality.

PEICHIN CHIANG -  ESSAYIST, FICTION WRITER AND JOURNALIST

Taiwan

PeiChin CHIANG was born in Taiwan, has lived in Singapore and India.

She is an essayist, fiction writer, and journalist responding to underrepresented people, social and labor issues in Asia. Her most recent writing is the post-memory about rites of passage in the form of prose: “Uncover the shell”. The book she wrote records the process and details of a traditional funeral in Taiwan and portrays the grief and condolence from the living, her, as a suicide survivor.
She also uses different media for creation, such as video and visual art installations. She once held an artist-in-residence exhibition in Matsu, Taiwan, and joint exhibition in the historic district of Bopiliao, Taiwan.
She works as a storyteller and communicator in the public and business world. She obtained a Global MBA, ESSEC Business School (École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales) from Singapore and France, Master and Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Chemistry from National Taiwan University.

LISA SEWELL – POETRY

U.S.A.

I am the author of several books of poetry, including Impossible Object, which received the Tenth Gate prize from Word Works press. I am currently working on a manuscript of poems titled “Dry Spell,” which focuses on endangered species and disappearing ecosystems. For this book, I am trying to develop a poetics that can address the experience of living in the midst of a sixth extinction event, with dangerous weather and a destabilized environment. The manuscript includes a series of poems about endangered species, like the California grizzly and the Florida panther, and also place-based poems that explore the cultural and ecological history of endangered environments like the Salmon River estuary in Oregon and the Colorado river in Arizona. I have also been working on a series of poems about the 18th century Dutch/German artist and naturalist, Maria Sibylla Merian, whose most famous prints are based on her stay in Suriname. I am excited to learn about the flora and fauna of the area around Casa Na Ilha and have a first-hand encounter with some of the plants and creatures that appear in Merian’s images from Suriname, like the Blue Morpho butterfly in this print.

SAMANTHA MORRIS – VISUAL ARTIST

U.S.A.

Samantha Morris was born in 1995 and grew up in Madison, Connecticut; she now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Morris graduated from The University of the Arts in 2017 with a BFA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing. In addition, she is continuing her graduate studies in the MFA Fine Arts program at Pratt Institute. Solo exhibitions include:  Kanna Rými, Listhús Gallery in Ólafsfjörður, Iceland; and BFA Thesis Exhibition, The Space Between, The University of the Arts. Selected group exhibitions include Black and White, Site:Brooklyn, Paperworks, b.j spoke gallery and Space Invaders, Fountain Street Gallery among others. Morris’ work has been published in FreshPaint Magazine, Opción Magazine, ArtMaze Magazine and Underground Pool.

“My large monochromatic graphite drawings and prints suggest the experience of an individual traveling through a space. Exploring place through architecture, interiors, and plant life, I am fascinated by the feeling of light and its stillness. Through the labor intensive mark-making process, internal light emerges from the work. By questioning both specificity and ambiguity, the work exists in the in-between.”

ODILIA MARTINEZ-FALERO SUANZES – MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST

Spain

Adapting art as a way of living, I tend to immerse myself in unfamiliar environments, traveling through space like a nomad searching for a new oasis to live in. At the basis of this search is the creation and expansion of a visual language that compounds both conscious and subconscious visual experience, informed by the experience of diverse and unfamiliar cultural, lingual and architectural experiences.

A series of questions stem to mind during this research, what makes an art object? If intent is intrinsic to an art object, to what degree is making necessary? In the words of Joseph Beuys "every sphere of human activity, even peeling a potato can be a work of art as long as it is a conscious act," the idea being that every decision you make should be thought out and attempt to make or contribute to the formation of a work of art able to mirror the contemporary.  While intent appears to be key in generating art objects, the physical act of making remains an integral part of my practice.

Mixing gathered materials, mainly from natural sources such as rocks, plants and earth. The chemical reactions that occur when mixing these materials are recorded and constitute the painted surface. This search for materials took me to use blood as medium, recycling my biological waste of my monthly cycles, giving this condition a chance to get closer to femininity and my own body. 

Blood has been use throughout art history as a pigment, to make statements in relation to violence, gender equality, religion and the politics of menstruation. This in turn sparked the need to get closer to my body, inducing me to create a microscope constituted primarily of a web cam and a projector. I made a record of all the materials used through photographs and videos.

Through this research it became apparent that my interest in the corporal was intrinsic to nature, questioning the modes of display adopted in my practice. The traditional white neutral space felt limiting, pushing me to create and search for new ways of expression. Using sculpture, slide protectors, microscopes, photography, video, painting, found objects with the aim of creating installations, being more flexible and playful with space and my own ideas without limiting the making. Having the opportunity to be in a new space and environment I am hoping to to develop a new series of installations with what the place itself will give me. Making immersive spaces with objects, sculptures, and projected images and videos of the vast microscopic world that surround us.

Odilia Martinez-Falero Suanzes was born in 1993 in Madrid. She graduated from City & Guilds of London Art School in 2016, where she won The Board of Trustees Prize for an Outstanding Piece of Work in the Graduated Show. She was selected to do a residency at the Griffin Gallery just before finishing her degree and has been doing a number of residencies ever since, which nowadays is a big part of her practice and her artistic development. Odilia is part of the Brocket Gallery, where she has done a number of exhibitions in London and out of London.

ANA VIEIRA DE CASTRO – VISUAL ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER

Portugal

During my artistic journey of self discover, the idea of identity and transformation  is present on all of my projects. It’s amazing to me how human beings are so adaptable and how never stop transforming ourselves during our life and even during death. We are infinitely connected to the earth with our body, and to the universe with our mind or our soul. I like to think that when a body dies he is consumed by the earth and somehow we are born from the earth again. As many life beings, we are just passing by. We are only here by a short period of time, so our soul can learn from our actions and to grow. I’ve always studied and searched for philosophical theories about the process of transformation physically and psychologic of a body during life and how that affects our identity. Since we change so  many times through life, physically and psychologically, it’s inevitable to think that it’s at the moment when we take our last breath that we will finally know who we truly are, because we just spent the amount of time we had on this earth trying to discover it. But in another way, not everyone is lucky enough to get to the end of their lives and find peace. In this case I believe that knowing who I am, and what I’m capable of would bring the happiness and peace that we are all searching for, since there are no more doubts about our role on this Earth. So I started looking for philosophical theories about the theory of reincarnation and how this can be the only way for self discover, and a way to get to true happiness. With this in mind, and since the process of self discovery goes through communication with one another, the project that I would like to develop during my stay at Casa na Ilha is about the idea of memories that got lost in time and space. I pretend to develop a Photo Book where the idea is to search for the stories of self discovery of the habitants of the island, and how do they see their selves when it comes to their identity. I pretend to work with their personal archive, to know what stories made them who they are today and photograph that personal archive of theirs whether that would be photographs, letters, post cards, books… I want to know how they communicate with each other, which letters they wrote that never got delivered, what thoughts do they had that never had the chance to be heard, what text did they wrote to someone and never had the courage to share, the letters that keep memories, the love stories that got lost in time, and what is their perspective when it comes to identity, transformation and memory. Summing up, I want to photograph these memories and to do something that I’ve never done before on my journey as a visual artist. I want to do a documental Photo Book about these people and I hope to somehow find my own consolation on my personal search for my identity. I’m going to document the memories of the habitants, write about them and make my own photographic interpretation through self portraits.

https://anavc.portfoliobox.net/

JOE WARD – VISUAL ARTIST

U.S.A.

Joe Ward is a visual artist based in Brooklyn, New York and the principal and creative director of Joe Ward LLC, a digital and communications strategy group in New York City. He studied design at George Washington University (Washington, DC) and painting at the New York Studio School Of Drawing, Painting, And Sculpture (New York, NY). Using an abstract approach, Joe creates work with oil paint, acrylics, drawing, and digital.

www.JoeWard.Art

Instagram.com/JoeWardArtist

MAISIE COUSINS – PHOTOGRAPHER

United Kingdom

I have lived in Britain my whole life, mainly in London. I am a full time practising artist, dividing my time between making personal work and also commercial work to pay the bills. Last year I was extremely lucky to have my first solo show at T J Boulting gallery in London, and to get the opportunity to photograph the musician Bjork - who was attracted to my visceral aesthetic. After a busy year I am focusing on meeting other artists, creating stronger ideas, developing my practice and travelling as much as possible. When I travel I am particularly drawn to Latin America, there is an energy there that really appeals to me and inspires my work.

When I travel, it is not the overall grand landscape scenes I am attracted to photograph - they do not even tempt me. I am drawn in by the smaller details that I believe are the true character & story in a place - wether that be a city, a jungle, a forest, a junk yard, a beach. Details like the flies & insects on rotten fruit, the rubbish left behind, the language of food and consumption, the human mark left behind on nature. 

The everyday is what inspires me. What others see as mundane or disgusting, I am drawn too and use these to transform my surroundings, creating a semi faux reality. I have mostly done this in a studio set up, but following a residency in Columbia earlier this year, where I truly felt travelling helped me completely lose my ego & sense of self, I am more inspired to continue travelling & created these faux realities in a true setting - romanticising real places, people, objects whilst staying true to their natural core. 

During this residency I would like to expand on these ideas (our relationship with food, waste and nature), but within the amazing setting of Brazil. I aim to make larger scale images, using fauna I would have no access to here in the U.K. I want to bring my studio set ups into real life.


CHASEN WOLCOTT – DRAWING AND PAINTING

U.S.A

Growing up in California has an enormous amount of value in my life. From the way I treat my coastlines, encounter a variety of big cities filled with many different cultures, and through the movements of skateboarding, surfing, and street art. In California I am lucky enough to have been shaped with so much diversity in order to preserve qualities of life that are so challenged in today's forecast. Within each of those aspects, the speed of modern life gives me adrenaline to use creative linework through the culture that I've lived with for many years with confident decision making and control. Obsessed with a variety of fearless application, I also commit to slow the brush and downshift through moments using charcoal, oils, acrylics, graphite, and ink. If I hesitate, the action won't feel genuine because hesitation kills.

Inspired by the optically rebellious artistic attitudes that exist between Futurism, Abstract Expressionism, and even Impressionism, my mixed Native American and Mexican heritage is expressed through primitive mark-making and primordial elements. Imagery redefines direct experiences and real time intimacy. People-watching and unapologetic sexual expression are central to my artistic lust by investigating masculine and feminine interaction. I process real life situations then unleash artistic fascinations through rapid painterly gesture. Now affirming that the world has been enriched by a new form of beauty: the beauty of speed.

I went to California State University, Long Beach for undergraduate BFA in Drawing and Painting, while currently receiving my MFA in Painting at San Francisco Art Institute. From a very observational training in painting to a less graphic and more candid painting process has evolved over the last 5 years. I wanted to make visible the process of searching and essence in every mark accessible in which I cared so much about. Investigative approaches has taught me how to preserve color integrity and understand painting in more of the present moment.

To connect more please visit my website: www.chasenwolcott.com

Or go to my Instagram: @poursauce

ANDREA WILKINS – PAINTER AND PHOTOGRAPHER

U.S.A – South Korea

I take photographs. I am inspired by stillness, nature, music, relationships and the complexity of everyday life. I am an art educator and a yoga teacher. I am interested in the spiritual, meditation, ritual and prayer. In my time in Brazil, I plan to document the magical vibrations of the Brazilian jungle. My response will focus on my direct relationship to my surroundings, through meditative practice, visceral sensation and spirit guidance. Nature has the capacity to enchant and reveal deep truths and healing wisdom within us. It is my goal to listen to this communication and create photographic stories. I hope my proposed body of work will reveal a sense of love, nurture and light.

My background is in painting, photography, education and dance. I studied at Black Hills State University in Spearfish South Dakota, Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana and received my Art Education K12 teaching license as well as Master in Art Curriculum at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. I am passionate about the creative process being a source of healing and therapy for all people. I have been a yoga practitioner for the past 15 years and consider my practice a critical part of my growth and experience in life. Currently, I live and work in Jeju Island, South Korea and have been here for the past 5 years.

http://cargocollective.com/andreadawnwilkins

MINJEONG OH - VISUAL ARTIST

South Korea

I enjoy walking with light and soft steps and observing the neighborhood like an urban wanderer. Using objects and situations captured in such a time as a subject matter, I am developing daily stories and ideas following one after another. Besides, I am writing down stories on a city and its culture with images created based on color pencil drawing and oil painting.

Graduated from a Dept. of Painting & Printmaking, College of Art & Design, Ewha Womans University, and took a master’s degree in the graduate school of the same university, majoring in painting and printmaking. Had 5 solo exhibitions beginning from the one at Space 15th(Seoul, Korea) including Pickled Art Unit One(Beijing, China), and participated in many large-scaled domestic and foreign group exhibitions. Joined in many exchange exhibitions with Chinese artists, particularly, starting from a residence program by Beijing Creation Studio, Kwangju Museum of Art in 2011. Also participated in the Canadian project exhibition called (DA BAO)(TAKE OUT) from 2012 to 2014 as the only Korean artist.