All Africa highlights LIZETTE CHIRRIME’s need for urgent medical procedure

Mozambique: Mozambican Visual Artist Lizette Chirrime Starts Crowdfund for Urgent Medical Procedure

Scrrenshot/GoGetFunding

A GoGetFunding has been set up to help raise funds for Lizette Chirrime’s surgery.

16 DECEMBER 2022

allAfrica.com

By Melody Chironda

Cape Town — In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lizette Chirrime underwent successful, life-changing hip replacement surgery. Now doctors have revealed that the surgery was not as successful as initially thought, and this is threatening her life.

The self-taught multidisciplinary artist, according to Morton Arts, is well known for her “artistic work of combining textiles and found objects, in her symbolic abstract works – drawing inspiration from her journeys and dreams. Chirrime’s interplay between textiles and abstraction, as well as her palpable use of art as a therapeutic and spiritual tool, brings forth a reconfigured understanding of representation and human nature, using thread after colored thread to inspire hope and healing.”

Following a three-month residency at Greatmore Studios in Cape Town in 2005, she lived in South Africa until 2021, then returned to her native Mozambique. She has been featured in numerous galleries and museums such as Cape Town Art Fair, Kubatana, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorim, Norway, including a solo exhibition, Rituals for Soul Search, at Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC

In addition to her exhibitions, she has participated in Nando’s Artist Society, Nando’s Chicken Run, as well as Yellowwoods Art’s Creative Block programme.

But now, Chirrime is facing the greatest challenge of her life.

She is seeking help from friends, family, and kind-hearted donors to help pay for her operation in India.

Outlined on her GoGetFunding page, Chirrime said that in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, she underwent hip replacement surgery in South Africa and all was well until just over a year later when she began experiencing pain.

And after two years of constant pain and much research for relief, she was told that she needs to get another hip replacement.

Available Artwork by LIZETTE CHIRRIME

LIZETTE CHIRRIME in OkayAfrica

Mozambique

Spotlight

Spotlight: Mozambican Lizette Chirrime On Stumbling Into Artistry

Zee Ngema

Photo courtesy of the artist 

Chirrime’s latest exhibition, Rituals for Soul Search embodies the artist’s desire to bring audience members closer to nature, the Universe, and their souls.

In our ‘Spotlight‘ series, we highlight the work of photographers, visual artists, multimedia artists, and more who are producing vibrant, original work.

In our latest piece, we spotlight Mozambican textile artist, Lizette Chirrime. The self-taught multidisciplinary artist channels her trauma and longing to be whole through her artwork. “These abstract forms evoke the human body and my identity-responsive practice where I refashion my self-image and transcend a painful upbringing that left me shattered and broken. I literally ‘re-stitched’ myself together. These liberated ‘souls’ are depicted ‘dancing’ on the canvas, bringing to mind, well-dressed African women celebrating”, Chirrime says in her own words. The artist uses her creations to communicate the beauty in simplicity, and the divinity of being African.

We spoke with the Chirrime about accidentally finding her medium of choice, using color to express emotions, and focusing your energy on being awesome.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Describe your background as an artist and the journey you’ve taken to get it to where it is today.

When I started, I had no idea that I was an artist. I loved to create beautiful environments wherever I went, and when people noticed, they began giving me that title. I was using techniques that deviated from what was common at the time, particularly working with recycled materials, which I think situated me as a creative within my communities.

What are the central themes in your work?

Womanhood, Mother Earth, love, awesomeness, and spirituality.

How did you decide on using textiles to express your art?

It all started when I began working with hessian fabric, mainly, deciding to change the way it was treated in many houses. I gave it more life and a better look, and when the healing was done, I moved on to colorful fabrics in search of joy and life.

In the early 2000s, I began working with scrap materials, having been compelled to create a doll from textiles one evening. I fell in love with the medium and haven’t stopped creating since, though the way in which I utilize textiles continues to evolve.

Can you talk about your use of colors and symbolism in your art?

I use the colors I do — shades of red, blue, and green — because they remind me of beauty. They’re the vehicles I use to both express my feelings and describe certain narratives behind my expression. Symbolically, I look to nature for inspiration and translate the environment around me into symbols within my pieces. Looking to nature helps to find one’s place within the universe, and I want to help people see the value in slowness and simplicity. I hope that my work helps people appreciate how miraculous our planet is and inspires them to heal the earth from destruction.

How has the pandemic affected you creatively?

I relocated to Mozambique during the pandemic, after living in South Africa for many years, and have felt an incredible shift in my capacity to be present. Being removed from a city and with a slower pace of life, I’ve been able to reconnect with myself and have a direct conversation with my spirit and soul, which directly feeds into my work and the current ideas which I’m exploring.

Luckily, I didn’t feel very affected by the pandemic because I’ve had a few sponsors and continued to sell my artwork through that time. Though I didn’t sell as much as I did prior, I still managed to pay my bills, eat and create — I’m thankful to have met my needs as an artist.

Image courtesy of the artist

African Single Mother, 2021

Available Artwork by LIZETTE CHIRRIME

Mozambican textile artist LIZETTE CHIRRIME speaks to her inspiration and art practice

Video credit: Jarrett Hendrix

Working primarily with recycled materials, Lizette Chirrime’s practice has a marked foundation in personal and traditional spirituality. Chirrime describes her creative process as “a prayer to the Universe”–an intention to heal the earth from overconsumption, pollution and greed. Sourcing scrap materials from her environment and immediate communities, Chirrime uses fabric, burlap, rope, paint, beads, leather and more to produce dynamic collages that speak to African womanhood, and more broadly, the human condition. Finding inspiration in the natural world–the vastness of the ocean, the hues of the sunrise, the evolution of a storm–Chirrime’s pieces are layered with a poetic consideration for what she calls “the essence of life.”

Her solo exhibition “Rituals for Soul Search” is on view at Morton Fine Art in Washington, DC by appointment through May 22, 2022.

Visit http://www.mortonfineart.com to view available artwork by LIZETTE CHIRRIME.