Nelly Guambe (b. 1987, Mozambique, lives and works in Maputo)
Nelly Guambe’s potent portraits activate abstract and internal interrogations of how the psychology of womanhood can be expressed physically. With their characteristically large, probing eyes, her subjects seduce viewers into an emotive landscape questioning the restless and ambiguous social realities that the artist believes many contemporary southern African women may find themselves in.
Nelly Guambe began painting in 2010 when she joined the Mozambican Artist Association, Nucleo de Arte, after completing a BA in International Relations and Diplomacy in South Africa a year earlier. The themes of everyday womanhood and the human figure that feature in her painting are reflected in the artist’s simultaneous venture into fashion design. She established two up-cycling fashion brands between 2012 and 2016, and in 2017 she cofounded the Deal Creative Space in Maputo, which promotes Design, Entertainment, Arts, and Literature. Her first solo exhibition, Inquietude (Restlessness) took place in September 2017 at the Nucleo de Arte, Maptuo.