ARTBEAT Issue 01 October 2016

ARTBEAT MAGAZINE
10
Below: examples of work by Ananda Nahu
A Tale of Two
Stencil Artists
Ananda Nahu comes from the small
countryside town of Juazeiro, in Bahia.
She has painted her intricate, vibrant
art on walls all over the state of Bahia
before moving to Rio de Janeiro where
she gained nationwide recognition.
Ananda was set for higher ground still
as she embarked on a two month
residency in New York where she
painted her art all over Brooklyn’s
walls in her Brazilian style. She was
also recently commissioned to create a
special artwork for the “NIKE” store in
Leblon, Rio de Janeiro during the
recent 2016 Rio Olympic games.
“I was a kid who loved to draw, as far
as I can remember, I was always
drawing. It was a natural thing for me
to want to study art. I moved from my
hometown, Juazeiro, to Salvador in
2001 and started attending the College
of Design and in 2004 I began to study
at the Fine Arts School from the
Federal University of Bahia.”
“At this point, I was really interested in
studying photography, Fine Arts
Paintings and engravings, specially
lithography, Serigraphs, metal
engraving. It wasn’t in the plans
working with street art.”
Yes, it was something that happened
later in my life, when I met my
husband (artist Rodrigo Izolag). Being
a woman, you know, it was hard to go
to the streets to paint on my own, and
he introduced me to this world, and I
got instantly hooked. And we started
working in partnership.”
“In 2005, I began using stencil to
create wall arts, one of the oldest type
of engraving, that is leaked into the
mold to obtain shapes and pictures. “