Talk a bit about yourself, name, age, profession and the place you live in ?

Hello, I’m Carina, I’m 31 years old and I’m from Lisbon, Sintra.

Right now I am working as an illustrator and image editor at a company of personalized gifts. But my illustrations, those that say something about me, and that tell me something, I do them after work, when the house is already silent, on the days when I still have energy and desire. In the short term, I want to dedicate more time to illustration.

You said once that you have been drawing since forever, since your childhood. When did you think of art as a profession? 

I always remember drawing and painting, for me it was something natural and that made me feel good. At school, since I was very young, art has always been my comfort zone. But I think that it was only when I had to choose an area that I realized that this was my path. That there was no other option that would complete me and make sense. For a long time I wanted to paint. That was my goal because in reality I was not even aware of the world of possible options.

After you graduated in Sculpture and Drawing at the FBAUL, did you get involved with illustration then ? or was it afterwards ?  

During the course I chose an optional illustration discipline, and I did again and again that discipline (I repeated on purpose) to try to learn the most and evolve in some way.

I knew my way was there, but I didn’t know how. Because, I had many ups and downs, many uncertainties. In fact, I have never been a very confident person, and I ended up not drawing for pleasure for a long time, I thought that my illustrations were not good enough and that they were useless. Despite not giving up, I stagnated, I was adrift without really knowing which way or how to go it.

What does drawing mean to you now ? 

Drawing is my expression tool, the way I expose feelings, tastes, inspirations. I’ve never been good with words, so drawing is a way to release frustrations and celebrate joy.

Can you tell us about your creative process and about the materials you use the most ?

Most of the time, my work starts with an idea, a thought, a feeling. Other times, when I feel lost, I look for references, usually photos that inspire me and start there, this was also a mechanism that I was learning to not get desperate of not knowing what to draw and being blocked.

I use a lot of gouaches, colored pencils and markers, these are my favorite materials. I love the results I can get. But in recent months my ally has been Procreate. I can say that the iPad was the best purchase I made, it makes my process a lot easier, and it has made me produce a lot more.

There is a presence of a maternal woman and a woman that maternity turned woman in her essence, can you talk about these works ? 

3 years ago I started my adventure in motherhood, a world of changes, life turns inside out, and in fact everything is incredible! It sounds cliché but it is really the best thing in the world. At least for me it was, not immediately, but over time.

With this change, and after so long of stalemate and uncertainty, I felt it was now or never.

I started to draw what I wanted, how I wanted, without thinking if others would like it. I ended up being born as a mother, and growing up as a person and as an illustrator. it was one of the biggest inspirations and without a doubt the biggest motivation of my life.

Which challenges do you face as a woman in the art market ? 

Fortunately (I was probably lucky) Professionally, I never felt any discrimination for being a woman, but in my personal life, yes.

There is still a long way to go before equality is real.

You have done a solo exhibition at Joia Goldsmithery of feelings in 2019, a Limited Humans, can you tell us more about this serie ? 

People place a lot of importance on differences, and focus too much on that. Prejudice has too much space in society.

We may be the best person in the world, but if we are different for some reason, it is enough to be cast aside, questioned or criticized.

What I wanted in this series was to create obvious differences in the look, but to make each of these characters fantastic beings. I wanted them to have confident expressions, as if they felt special, unique and in no way weird.

Physical form, skin color, motor limitations, etc. are characteristics that should not be labeled by anyone.

Are some of the women you draw self portraits ? 

They are more sentimental self-portraits than physical ones, but I put a lot of myself in them. 

About this Pandemic situation, how has your production been ? 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have practically always been working in person, so my routine has not changed much.

Still, the confinement gave me some extra time to create and think about new things, and a theme that didn’t exist. Not to mention the roller coaster of emotions.

This year : projects, processes coming ? 

I want to finish two Zines, which have been more or less “tacked” for some time. Each one is about different moments that I lived, of sadness and joy. I haven’t moved on with them yet. I really want them to be perfect, perhaps because they are very special and personal to me.

Before the pandemic, I was planning to do some workshops for children. It’s a project that I want to do, let’s see when it can happen.

Photo and Illustration : Carina Monso Interview: Vital Lordelo

This interview was featured in the April 2021 FRESTA catalog magazine, a JOIA publication (2019-2023). The publications are now being made available in this blog post format.