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EDITION 35

Editor-in-Chief Vivian Van Dijk: “Castro’s graffiti art is larger than life. It shows a woman’s strength; from a girl to a woman in a very feminine and powerful way. Her devotion to art and fighting for women’s rights make her the queen of “girl power,” not only in Brazil, but throughout the world.”

Empowering Women Through Art: Graffiti Artist Panmela Castro

Even with the great advances society has made in regards to human rights, atrocities remain a daily reality for many, including the girls and women of Brazil. Reports conducted in 2011 by the Rio de Janeiro Department of Public Safety revealed that more than 100 women each day became victims of domestic violence, either as a victim of rape, threats or aggravated assault happening either in the home or by a member of the family.

It’s a scenario that Brazilian graffiti artist Panmela Castro was all too familiar with, having seen her own female family members suffer the same demise. And, if not for the transformative power of art, she may have ended up in the same situation—suffering in silence, living in shame and fear.

After marrying at the age of 21, the shy and uncertain Castro turned to art as a way to release her anxieties, particularly graffiti, which is legal in Brazil, which she painted under the pseudonym “Anarkia.” There she painted huge, colorful murals on the city’s walls, beautiful pieces that depict the human spirit, both broken down and rising from the ashes, symbolic of what she witnesses around her and what she hopes for. For example, she incorporates the delicate-winged dragonfly because, as she says, “It represents a woman’s freedom to be what she wants and not what society wants her to be.”

Through those expressions displayed on the walls of Rio de Janeiro’s Penha neighborhood, Castro found her confidence and her voice. Three years later, she ended her marriage. She was no longer the same person—she had a greater mission to fulfill.

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“To be a graffiti artist is to discover the city, to create a relation with the architecture and people. It is not just about a piece of art; the art is the lifestyle.”

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“My mother trained me to always be the best one everywhere, to be the different one, to be the incredible one. When I grew up, I saw that something was wrong with that idea. I saw that the important lesson of life is to be happy with who you are…”

That mission focused on helping other women find their voice, to speak up for themselves and speak out against violence. In 2006, it resulted in the formation of her Nami Rede Feminista de Arte Urbana, an all-female art collective designed to empower women through the art of graffiti.

“All I have is courage and a will to change the reality around us,” said Castro.

That is precisely what is happening. Where diplomacy is failing the women of Brazil, art is prevailing.

With the singular goal to empower women, Castro and her team travel throughout Brazil, focusing on some of the poorest neighborhoods, where she conducts art workshops that communicate the need to eliminate the trend of domestic violence against women in her country.

“When we hold a graffiti workshop on domestic violence, I always talk about the experiences close to me, what happened to aunts, cousins and friends. They’re not unlike the stories we hear in the communities. Often, the victims are embarrassed to come forward. They think they should keep quiet or they did something to deserve it,” said Castro.

And since graffiti is such a visible and accessible art form, it is making the impact Castro hoped. “Since it’s a street art, graffiti is able to reach everyone and can provoke positive social change. We use it to go into communities and talk to other women about gender issues, domestic violence, psychological violence and so much more,” said Castro.

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For all her efforts with the Nami Rede Feminista de Arte Urbana to make great strides toward a better social and family environment for the women of Brazil, Castro was named as one of the “150 Fearless Women” by Newsweek, a list which included United Nations Ambassador Angelina Jolie and Oprah Winfrey. Castro was also awarded the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award, as well as the Prize Hutúz graffiti artist of the decade.

With greater recognition, Castro feels greater responsibility to spread her

message of hope and further “explore the mythology of the feminine.” She has taken her work to cities around the world, including Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Jerusalem and Johannesburg.

“Our work is just starting. I have a lot to show and say about women’s rights,” she added.

To learn more about the art of Panmela Castro and the work of Nami Rede Feminista de Arte Urbana, please visit the Website www.panmelacastro.com

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“My art is to make people feel. To make people think about how you feel. It is about the construct of our culture.”

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A Conversation With Graffiti Artist: Panmela Castro

As a child, what did you want to become?

I just wanted to become someone free.

In which town did you grow up?

I am from the suburb of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Do you think your background has influenced your current art style? If so, what specific element in your background is most pervasive in influencing your artistic style?

I completed a master’s in Art in 2013. My dissertation was clearly influenced by my childhood and adolescence, especially the relationship with my mother that completely influenced my actual production. I create dialogues between the profane and the sacred, addressing issues related to interdicts.

What inspires you in the job of being an artist, especially a graffiti artist?

To be a graffiti artist is to discover the city, to create a relation with the architecture and people. It is not just about a piece of art; the art is the lifestyle.

The innovation I see in your work is that you are the first female graffiti artist who has openly used her talent to protect and promote women’s rights. In which way do

you consider yourself an innovative creator?

I just do my work. Murals have been made since the beginning of time, and the feminist art movement is not new. If there is something of innovation in my work, people will have to tell me so and why.

Which basic elements of creativity did your family teach you?

My family is the main reason for who I am today. They always supported my drawing and painting, and they supported my choice of an artist as career. However, the principal way they developed all my creative power was through the many ways they oppressed me in life. I had a different way of seeing and thinking about life, and most people never understood it, especially my family. That was a hard time in my life, but now, I am more accepted by them.

How does your Brazilian background and cultural experiences surface in your work?

I use to be part of a movement here called Pichação (similar to the taggers movement). Pichação is a culture that we have in Brazil. Its comes through the chaos of the city, but it shouldn’t be viewed as just vandalism. Graffiti in Brazil is legal. And it is only because we know how to get something and transform it to be a crazy wonderful culture.

What first inspired you to get into graffiti art and what about it do you think sets it apart from other forms of painting/art?

I studied art since I was just nine years old, and was supported by my family, but graffiti was just a joke to me then. Graffiti became powerful in Rio only recently, in the past decade, and no one knew that it would come to be considered a form of art or that one day we could find work through making murals that people enjoy—graffiti.

What can you tell us about your role as the president of the Nami Redi Network, which seeks to use the urban arts to promote women’s rights?

In 2008, I started doing some graffiti workshops to talk about the new low that we have in domestic violence rates. The method of the workshops was a success, and more and more people became interested about how to help and participate in future workshops. In this way, we founded the Nami Redi Network, which continues to travel around and promote women’s rights through the arts.

You have also been honored with many awards for your role of combining the arts with social justice, like the Vital Voices

Global Partnership Award. What do these awards and recognition mean to you and what do they say about the power of art?

When you are like a teenager with collared and dirty clothes painting the streets for free, people do not believe that what you do is really important and serious. The awards help to validate this work and form of art.

Is there a message you wish to convey through your art? If so, what is that message?

My art is to make people feel. To make people think about you feel. It is about the construct of our culture.

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What can you tell us about some of your recent work and the inspiration behind it? Is there any project on the horizon that you anticipate working on that you can share with us?

This year, supported by the Avon Institute, we visited 34 schools where we talked with more than 1,000 boys and girls who are interested in making murals that communicate the need to end domestic violence. We held an online contest for the kids, with the goal being to create the best wall among all our workshops. The winning mural will be remade by me on a 200 meter two-wall space in the center of the city. I will start this mural in August 2014 with the message “Where we have respect, we have peace.”

Is there a particular element to your personal creative process that you always repeat/reference in your work?

I like to work freestyle. The art is free.

After such great success and travels, how do you keep yourself inspired?

When you are in touch with people, you always have inspiration to continue.

Do you have a favorite artist or company yourself?

Sophie Calle, for sure. She is a Parisian photographer.

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Are you ever afraid you will run out of inspiration and creativity in your art?

My mother trained me to always be the best one everywhere, to be the different one, to be the incredible one. When I grew up, I saw that something was wrong with that idea. I saw that the important lesson of life is to be happy with who you are, and this is why I am not worrying about being incredible or different or the best anymore. When you make it in life and make art that you like simply because you like it, life will be always good.

What is the most difficult thing of your job?

Time.

What is the most fun part of your job?

Time.

Do you expect your way of creating art to change in the future?

“I’d prefer it to be this ambulant metamorphosis, rather than to have that old opinion about everything.” Raul Seixas

Do you embrace the changes in the art industry regarding social media and technology influences?

I am open to it. I love paint and I love graffiti, but I know that those are not the only media that I can use.

What do you consider to be your greatest masterpiece?

The relation between my female body and the streets.

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Do you have any preferences for an artist and/or for creators of artistic or innovative works? If so, why is that? What special quality do you like in their work or personality?

Sophie Calle and the way she transforms her life in art.

Do you aspire to collaborate in your creations with an artist or innovative creator from another discipline?

Yes, probably a fashion designer.

Do you follow any philosophical or psychological approach in your work and/or life?

No one is perfect, and the “right or wrong” do not exist. The important thing is that every human being has a happy life.

Do you have a favorite building, hotel, ideal home or working location?

Hotel, houses and building? I prefer to see everything from outside, and with the composition of the city. Women have been selected for the private space, but now is the time for women to go to the street.

Do you have any personal and/or professional dreams for the future?

To not lose opportunities to spend a lot of time with people. I just want to spend much more time with people.

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“When you are in touch with people, you always have inspiration to continue.”