We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Owen Mutiganda. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Owen below.
Owen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
Of course. If it was up to me I would’ve started as soon as I was born. I really didn’t start making art until 4 years ago, and it came about during a not-so-pleasant phase in my life. But such is the trajectory of my life, and I’m grateful I embraced this side of myself when the time did come. It’s kind of funny actually because looking back it all makes sense. I’ve always had a broad imagination, from the toys as a kid to the books, to the fantasies of my early youth, I’m still doing the same thing it’s just being translated through a creative medium (photography, etc.).
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Sure. My name is Owen and under the moniker of Noir my eyes, I make art that examines aspects of our individuality. Through my main focus of photography, I create two kinds of projects; the first being works that discuss the dynamics of our inner world. From projects on self-realization to the unknown, I mix photographs with my writing to show some of the ways we navigate these spaces. My other kind of project is under my “See Me Now?” series which examines the implicit intricacies of the people we walk past every day. I use portrait photography and questions to tell the stories of these people.
These two works merge to frame two important aspects of an individual: How one navigates their internal experiences, which influences how they see the people we encounter in our everyday lives. In its entirety, the purpose of my work is to spark self-realization and discovery in whoever is interacting with my art.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Let me say this. My work in general has a purpose, which is to spark inner dialogue and self-realization with whomever is interacting with the art. To use an allegory; my work takes you to a well but you make your own cup there aka you formulate your own perspective based upon yourself as an individual and your point of reference of observing life. This purpose however is not an end-all be-all reason driving my journey. The reason why I make art, the reason why I do what I do is because this is my way of responding to life. I don’t know any other way to interact and navigate my life. I experience-whether that is external or internal and as a response to that I make art. I can’t turn it off, this is just what comes out of me.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me personally, I would say self-discovery. I think with every piece, with every project, with every photograph I always learn something new about myself and not necessarily with what’s created but rather through the process. I always learn by facing the limitations of how I perceive life and how I perceive myself then shedding those layers. Every time I make art, I’m pushing a boundary, whether that be what I perceive as a possible expression or possible in general. This always challenges me and how I’m looking at myself and the life around me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.owenmutiganda.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noir.my.eyes/?next=%2F
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/noir_my_eyes