We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dashka-rheyna Charlemagne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Dashka-Rheyna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?
My work as a street artist has often been poorly received by critics because I have a different style from other street artists and because I am a woman. My graphic and conceptual style is different from the hyper-realistic style of other artists. What’s more, my painting is very personal. I talk about what’s bothering me, but it’s not easy to understand all the dimensions of what I’m trying to say. It’s hard to express myself, and because of that, it’s hard to understand my subjects. That’s why I’ve learned to dig deep within myself to find my feelings, to get to know them, and to become familiar with the different layers of the person I am. I tell myself that even if others don’t understand, I owe it to myself to understand who I am and what’s inside of me.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Dashka-Rheyna Charlemagne, a trained art historian, visual artist, writer, and street artist. I’ve always been the weird girl who draws and writes, but I started to take my art seriously after my last year in high school. I’m self-taught in painting, and I got into graffiti thanks to a project. Because I’m a feminist, I always try to do things differently in my artistic practice as a way of asserting myself. And people like my different artistic proposals because I dare and reinvent myself as I grow.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Even though I don’t like the word resilience, I have to admit that this state of mind runs through me in spite of myself. I live in Haiti, a country where everything is uncertain. I’m young, I’m a woman, and I chose to be an artist. When I started, I was only 19 years old. I knew nothing about the Haitian art world. I’d just gone to university to study art history and discovered my love for painting. I had big plans with my best friend, who was also an artist. We were young and opportunities were opening up.
But living in Haiti, the situation became more and more complicated, especially for artists. I couldn’t imagine giving up. We were 2, until the day my friend decided to leave everything behind. From one day to the next, I found myself alone, facing a life I’d chosen for myself. The socio-political chaos that reigns in Haiti makes it impossible for anyone to hope. But to be an artist is to resist. When my friend left, I realized that you can’t have the same dream even if you sleep on the same pillow. It’s impossible to hope for two when everything goes wrong. I understand and respect her choice, but for my part, I’ve learned to build a dream on my own, despite the chaos that surrounds me.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
One of the most gratifying things about being an artist is being able to be yourself in a world where you’re not allowed to be. As hard as the job is, I’m lucky enough to be completely myself and offer myself to the world. The more I work on myself, the more I learn to love and understand my emotions and accept myself, the more I become a complete artist. The reward for all this is that I don’t put pressure on myself because of social codes. Even though I have my own artistic pressures and existential crises as an artist, I’m not afraid to exist and reinvent the world through my eyes. To be able to show my perception of things and to know that this perception is appreciated, is interesting and makes people talk will be an eternal reward for me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: dashka_rheyna
Image Credits
On the images are mine