S.A: Hi Célia, first of all, we would like know more about you. Tell us who is Célia Lambert, tell us something about your life and your childhood in your country.
C.L: I was born in Mozambique, in Maputo that capital of the country. I've lived there four years. For me the souvenirs of my country are almost like a dream_ the colours, the smells, the noises the music. Everything it’s so far away because I never went back to Mozambique! In 1982 my parents immigrated to Portugal, to avoid a complicated political and social condition. I never really accepted the¨ uprooting…

S.A: What is art for you?
C.L: For me, art is an alternative world where anything is possible. A world where music and colours replace the words, a world where freedom is more than just a Word- it’s a law!

S.A: Could you share some of your philosophy about art and artistic creation?
C.L: Well, I am very instinctive person so basically when I create I don’t respect any rules, only my instincts. I dare to think that I am capable of create something new.


S.A: Have you always been interested in arts? When did you discover that art would be an important part of your life?
C.L: Yes I have always been interested in art in some how, first I wanted to be a writer, my first passion, than I wanted to be a dancer or a singer! The painting was the only thing I never dreamed to become but I guess I was born with it! When I was a child I was really shy and lonely, but in my head I had the feeling that I Could conquer the World with my imagination.

S.A: How did you get started in the art world?
C.L: I have always drawled and painted since I was little and I remember when I was 12 I had an art teacher that was really touched by a painting I did and she told me that I had a gift. I think she doesn’t know but she woke up the “artistic monster” that slept in me!

S.A: Your artworks on meseon are paintings, why do you choose painting as a means of expression?
C.L: I am a person of colours and rhythm and music and movement. The Only way I found to show all of that at the same time is when I paint….


S.A: What concept would you like to show to your viewers?  What would you like say with your artworks?
C.L: Well my paintings are all about emotions and feelings, so I guess it’s all about sharing. I like the idea that a person who sees’s what I do either she loves it or she hate’s it but not the indifference! The reaction of people to what I do, inspires me a lot so I try to give them back¨. When I need to tell a secret to everyone without using words I paint…

S.A: How has society influenced your art? What are the social implications of your art?
C.L: Society has an influence, probably, in who I am, in the way I dress, the way I walk the way I talk, but doesn’t have a direct influence in what I do. Of course me being who I am (somehow a product of society), my work will, in a certain way, be influenced by it. My paintings don’t express any social-cultural-political items, at least not for now. I keep on changing with time, so who knows… For now my work is more like a diary.

S.A: Discuss one of your pieces. What were you thinking when you created it?
C.L: Well "dancing in the dark" is one of my paintings that tell much about me… it represents a dancer that I wanted to be, so obviously, it represents the dream. It’s a sort of love letter that I wrote to eternity wile I am being consumed by time, she is supposed to show the strength of a movement that can only be understood if the viewer have somehow been there, in this place where this dancer is…


S.A: What was your most important exhibition? Could you share that experience?
C.L: I think my first solo exhibition was the most important for me! I remember that I had to do everything all by myself, it was in art café in Geneva that just opened up, I remember being really stressed but it was really nice experience and I met really great people!

S.A: Currently, do you have any exhibition?
C.L: Currently I am the gallery Jan Ken Poi, where I exclusively will have 20 small sizes paintings till the 9th of July.

S.A: What are the most important artist that is influence in your life and your works? Why?
C.L: There are many artists that influenced me for different reasons, but ill pick tree that I really admire their work:
William Tuner is one of my favourites. The way he dissolute the forms and the light are just brilliant. He’s visionary and romantic style are very inspiriting. Paul Cézanne is also one of my favourites, he’s innovating pictorial conceptions it’s what I most admire. Me myself like him I directly paint on the cloth without a preamble draw. It’s a wonderful sensation.
So, to short a little bit the list, I end up with Picasso, of course he’s definitely a genius in a way I see art and artists in general. What I most like about Picasso is the fact that he could aloud himself to do almost everything…


S.A: Could you talk about the procedures that you use in your artworks? Preparation, development and finishing.
C.L: I never know what to do till I get started! It all depends of my state of mind. Basically I mixture a lot of techniques at the same time: acryl, fusains, aquarelle, portier etc. I am not a very patient person so I don’t like to wait to long to see the final result of my work, therefore I don’t use oil to much. The colours I use talk about the emotions I want to share in moment. I use the knife and the hands to paint most of the times…

S.A: What do you feel when you are finished an artwork?
C.L: when I finish an artwork I feel empty, dizzy, proud and impatient to star another one!

S.A: Do you have some challenge or goal which you are pursuing?
C.L: my biggest challenge is that tomorrow I can be better than I was today, and the day after tomorrow I can be better than I will be tomorrow and on and on… for me “sky is the limit”

S.A: Some quick questions:
Tell us an artist: Picasso, He was a genius
Tell us a city: Maputo where I was born
Tell us a dream: that my art will touch people in a way that only dreams and love do.


S.A: Could you tell us something about you are currently working on?
C.L: Well I am working for my next expo in France in July, it will be a collective exposition of 50 artists, called “Le jardin extraordinaire” …there are some surprises that I would like to come up with!

S.A: Have you got some anecdote that you wish share with meseon community?
C.L: I had once a collective expo in Geneva, and I remember a person asked me witch were my paintings, so I said to the person to try to guess, so she pointed to a painting full of flowers with bright yellow, and green and orange a sort of shinny perfect kitchen sort of paintings (no harm mean to the artist who did it, of course!), but she so made laugh because it’s so not me … at least not for now!

S.A: For finish tell us, why do you create art?
C.L: To breathe

Thanks a lot for your time Célia. Has been a pleasure know more about you and your work.

Thank you for letting me share with you a litlle bit of me and of what I do!