I grew up watching my mother paint with watercolor, she lent me her brushes and her paints. My mother is very creative, very artistic and she is always painting or doing something handmade, I think I inherited the artistic side of her. My dad is very sociable and has the facility to make good friends and also keep them over time, I am a bit like him en that way.
I had a beautiful childhood. I grew up surrounded by a lot of love from my parents and the rest of my family, there were many of us at home, there was always something fun to do. I have many cousins with whom I played both in the patio of my grandparents’ house, they have been my best friends since I was little. I also liked spending quiet time
The first time I painted on canvas in school, it was a landscape with trees and a river, based on a photo I saw in a magazine and when I finished I was surprised by the result myself, besides how much I had enjoyed painting it, it made me feel very happy and proud. My parents had it framed and we put it in the living room.
I was immensely influenced by the "Nueva Cancion" movement when I was younger, which was a group of singer-songwriters in the 60s, 70s and 80s who sang about the social conditions of the people. You could say it changed my life. I was about 17 years old, I had started to play the guitar and friend lent me a guitar booklet with songs by Silvio Rodriguez, Mercedes Sosa, Victor Jara, etc. From there I began to explore and learn more about all the musicians and the significant historical moments in which it began. Their quest for change inspired form the political vision that I currently have. Today I can't paint if I don't listen to this music in the background.
I worked as in the shanty town in Lima as a teacher which woke me up to the terrible poverty and social exclusion in which a large part of the population of my country (and the rest of Latin America) lives.
I arrived in London to study English for a few months and fell in love with this vibrant city, so multicultural, so artistic. There were people from all over the world, this cultural richness is what caught my attention, I did not expect it that way.
The key to progress is practice and more practice. That is how I self-teach. You also have to have a large dose of motivation, hard work and perseverance. My friends pushed me to exhibit my paintings for the first time, without that support I might have continued painting just for myself for many years. Connecting with the Latino community in London helped me grow as a person and also getting out of my comfort zone to paint murals in the street, which is something I've always wanted to do.
The most useful piece of advice I’ve been given is “Be yourself, do not pay attention to what others think of you.” My mum told me that.
The advice I would pass on is…study what you really love. And just keep going when you feel despndent. Don’t give up at the first obstacle or defeat.
My work is inspired by Latin America. The people, the customs and traditions, the cultural manifestations of which we are proud but also the situations of injustice and social inequality. All this baggage of experiences are what give the focus to my work. I feel inspired by the colours, shapes, faces, flowers, leaves, patterns, and culture of our indigenous peoples, women, childhood, revolutions and their revolutionaries, music.
I love….family moments around a good meal with endless conversations, a glass of wine and listening to the music. Those moments they remind me of my times in Peru with the whole family. I love a cup of Peruvian coffee and a good movie. And of course painting while listening to music also gives me infinite pleasure.
My perfect Sunday in London…a traditional Sunday Roast in a pub or a walk by the river and lunch in a market. Richmond by the Thames in summer. The Southbank and the walk by the river to London Bridge and all the markets (Camden, Portobello, Brixton Village, Brick Lane, Borough, Brodway, etc..) and of course one of the many Peruvian restaurants.
http://www.gisellastapleton.com/
