Barbara Evina: »I am just an African woman who happens to make art«

The pandemic has made many people rethink and some have gone back to what they always wanted to do. This was also the case with Barbara Evina. Amid the lockdown, she took up brush and oil pastels and expressed what had been burning on her soul for a long time: She portray women of color who look like her and who, apart from exoticisms and clichés, are still far too rarely treated as full-fledged artists, as she explains to us in the following interview.

How would you describe your art?

I would say it is like an expression of everything I have inside of me. Sometimes it is easier to talk about some topics when you can visualize it. That was the reason why I started painting in 2020. But I have always drawn, and I always was interested in art. Basically, there is a child artist in every family and that was me. As far as I can remember, I have always loved art. And even after becoming an adult, I was never able to give it up entirely. In fact, I decided to center my life around it.

So, there was a reason why you started painting?

Yes, Covid depression. It was very difficult for me during Covid because I had freshly moved to Berlin in October 2019 and I found myself stranded in a Country where I didn´t know anyone, I didn't know the culture and I felt like I didn't know anything in general. Art really helped me get through that strange period. I was able to meet new people and gradually feel better about myself and where I was.

And before, you lived in France, right?

Yes, I grew up in France. But I was born in Cameroon, I lived there a few years and then we moved to France. So, I have many different homes and a multicultural history. I believe that unintentionally, it shows in my art (that I'm experienced living in different places, and that I have a lot of ways of thinking). I don't try to find one of the other better. I just need all these different ways of thinking – they are the reason I can be the person I am today. It is all a part of me.

For me it is an enrichment that you have all these different influences....

When I was younger, I tried to pick and choose which parts I liked the most regarding my origins and the culture I was later introduced to. But in the last few years, I’ve been more open to understanding them instead of criticizing.

You work with a lot of color, what reminds me a bit of US-American artist Amy Sherald or of Amoako Boafo. Are there any references for your way of working?

Not really. I try not to. When I was younger, I gave up painting because of that. In France I couldn't find anyone who looked like me making art (in the early 2000s, Instagram was not a thing). It was very demotivating for me as a child. And the fact that I could never see anything of such in galleries or in museums too, anything I could possibly relate to, beside the classics. The classics, that is all I could see back then and that's why I could never bring myself to have an artist that I admired or that I wanted to be like. So, even until today I do like some artists, their aesthetics and/or stories but I don’t have one specific artist in my mind when I work.

And what brings you to Berlin? What do you like about the city?

I wanted something new because I was tired of France. I grew up and I became an adult there, but I never felt like I belonged or that I would ever be able to do what I truly wanted living there. I moved to Berlin because I knew some people and I had studied here for one year. So, I told myself I would try Germany and I came here. At first, I just came to work, but now I am painting, and I think it was a good decision.

That’s great! And do you think there is more art in Berlin which you can identify with?

Yes, I really can. I try to go to exhibitions as much as I can and meet many artists who come from all over the world. That is so motivating, so new and so positive and it gives me all the courage I need to pursue my passion. I didn't even know that Berlin was such an art centered city or that I would find inspiration here but I´m happy I’ve picked Berlin randomly (laughs). 

There is a question I have wanted to ask you all along: Why is your website called »Whims Arts«?

Everyone asks me that. It’s because when I started posting art on the internet there was no ambition behind it. Before, the posts on my account were just sketches, drawings, illustrations … things that I wanted to draw and then shared with no intentions at all. For me it was just whims to make art when I wanted to make it and then sometimes, I would share it. So, that’s why I called it »Whims Arts«. I never planned to make art. I just have to do it and when it comes out it comes out. 

And why is it important to you to portrait black women? 

It's important for me and for everyone that is like me. Because now there may be a lot of black artists or black women artists, but it doesn't mean that it's enough or too much. I just keep adding to that new culture that we are making for ourselves. It is important to me to portrait black women specifically because I am a black woman. I must paint the thinks I relate to, and I have to be able to tell a story from my point of view and have the people relate to it. If the people who see my art are not black and still relate to it, then it means that some messages are universal. Some others are more specific. But that doesn't change anything for me. When I go to a gallery and there is a white woman portrayed, the painting can also talk to me. The color of the woman doesn't really matter. So why not paint black women?

You said something interesting, that you want to paint these artworks yourself and not let other people do the work for you. I appreciate that because right now black artists are really in vogue. But almost every time, a white European or North American interprets the works of these artists. Maybe there's not so much ignorance about this kind of work right now, but there's still a lot of people talking instead of listening....

I think right now in art there is a lot of storytelling. An artist paints something and someone will write a whole paragraph about it. To me, it’s something that is really not necessary. Unless I paint something that is part of a series then of course it will have a meaning. But I cannot show you a painting and give you one story that has to be understood in the exact same way for everyone.

In your work I can see a lot of masks or people without faces. Why is it?

Because I feel like we look too much at faces. In museums again, you see these portraits of very beautiful or characteristic women whose emotions are mostly shown or their faces. And the way we interpret it often depends on the attractiveness of the painted subject, which is misleading for me. I think we use the faces too much to express emotions when we could also use other aspects in order to do the same thing. And that’s why I decided to not draw faces and use colors instead. I try to show emotions differently, not for the sake of being different but because I think faces are too much for my paintings. It’s not that I don't like faces on other artists' paintings, but for me, once I do a face, I know that people will mainly look at that and that is not interesting for me. I think that colors set the mood better. I can show emotions through color, at least I am learning to, and it’s definitely an interesting challenge for me. 

And how do people react to your art? 

Quite unanimously, people say, »There's no face, but I can feel the emotions the way you're trying to portray them,« and that makes me really happy because I think that's the whole point for me. Not having faces is like an open ending for me, and I can feel it in the way people react to my art. It doesn’t have to be exactly what I see that everyone else sees. So, people can guess: This person is happy because the colors are bright, or sad because the colors are dark and so on. But it is never shown on the face, you have to guess.

You only have exhibited in Germany?

Yes, recently in September I exhibited at Aaimba Gallery in Berlin, I have another exhibition next year in Germany, too. Of course, I would like to go a bit further and exhibit in Africa, Cameroon specifically. Because I like the art there.

Are there any Cameroonian artists you like?

There is Sesse Elangwe, he paints black people with one big eye. I like his philosophy and his colors. He uses bright colors too. That is something I really like.

To be frank, I am not really on that topic, but I don't know a woman artist from Cameroon…

Well, to be honest, it’s overwhelmingly masculine there too, unfortunately. It’s true that it's quite rare but the culture is still changing. 

And why is it like this?

I think it's because of the culture. And a lot of people are like me and don't dare unless they see other people making art too. I mean, when a kid tells their parents they want to make art, their reaction is, »There's nobody like you making art and making it big.« And culturally in Cameroon, girls and women still have to fight for a lot of things that are seen for granted in occident. I don't think we're seeing the cultural meaning yet. But that's going to change, for sure.

Yes, sure. Someone like you has to start. (laughter) 

The few Cameroonian artists that I know are almost always living outside of Cameroon. I think that’s a problem too. There is a lot of migration in Cameroon.

Do you think it's a problem because these artists study abroad and »import« ideas?

Yes, that’s totally a problem because we have our own art, but history has taken a lot from us. I don’t think they import ideas per say, but we see things differently, and trying to impose those ideas locally is just as problematic. In the best world, where local Cameroonian art has a clear identity, we can talk about the importation of ideas, but not yet I think.
In a Country where people barely survive or have to try extremely hard to live a decent life, I don't think that art is the main issue for them and that’s absolutely understandable. And you would notice that in Africa, art is very important in all countries where people are actually doing well for most. It's all related.

Are there different reactions to your art from people from Germany, France or Cameroon? Or do they react the same?

I have yet to show it to a Cameroonian audience. 
I think a lot of people like the colors because they understand that it's about colors. I don't think it's a problem that I only paint black bodies. It might be a problem if I try to exhibit in larger galleries where I never see art by black people. But I've never gotten reactions that I didn't like so far. People are usually surprised when they see my art, or they understand it and can relate to my work. But for most people it doesn't matter if the bodies are black or white.
I am observing the art scene in Berlin, and it is true that in Berlin there is a lot of art made by people of color. But you can only find it where we are, because that's the only opportunity we have to show our art. And it would be great if art by people who are not white was more easily accepted in spaces that are much more stable and well-funded. Especially in a city like Berlin. I feel there's still a bit of a problem with getting art into spaces where everyone can really see it.

Berlin is a city with many different people and cultures and for me that is my everyday life. But in many places this diversity is only an « event »…

It brings me joy to see art from people who are not white, but they are still exceptions in the museums and galleries, and I think there is still a lot of work here.
In Berlin people like to pretend that we are all on the same level and get the same opportunities and that’s not true. I like making art here, but I would like to expand and show in as many different places as possible. Because I feel like that’s how you get to share the most and make more people understand what it is that you are trying to say. 
I don't want people to have any strange ideas about what African art is and to have these expectations on me to do »African art«. I always say: I am just an African woman who happens to make art. So, I think anyone who works in the art industry should start looking at people of color in that way. Maybe when we all agree about that and start treating every artist as an individual, we can move on to the part where we are all granted access to the same opportunities and unbiased critique.

Thank you, Barbara, for this inspiring conversation! 

Special thanks to Felix Adumatta Donkor from Aaimba Gallery, Berlin for making this conversation possible! 

Barbara Evina

Website: https://www.whimsarts.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whimsarts/