Meet Camilla Siren | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Camilla Siren and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Camilla, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve been drawing since I was little. Drawing was always my way of expressing myself and connecting with other people… At school I was always the student in the group responsible for making posters and artwork. I used to draw a lot on my own, put together masses and draw masses. When high school started, right at the time of deciding which college to go to, which profession to pursue, I spent some time experimenting with various techniques, especially photography. From photography, I started to see the city in a way I hadn’t seen before, and I noticed the graffiti on the streets and that made me really want to have a giant drawing on the wall too… I remember researching “how to do graffiti” in books, I looked for video lessons or graffiti workshops, but nothing like that existed here in Brasilia, at the time… I bought a spray paint at the store, and went to test it at home (the drawing went horrible!! haha). Things changed after I got to know some artists in the city, who had been active for a while, and I was exchanging ideas, getting tips, seeing what the materials were… All this happened in less than a year, and when I saw, I was already on the street painting. I started with an aesthetic of Bomb and illegal, because I saw it as a way to gain respect and spread my name as much as possible on the streets. Over time I felt more secure with handling the spray, and I was testing new techniques, adding details… Until I got to the characters’ language, in which I fell in love and stayed for good. Painting on the street is a totally different experience from drawing on paper… The possibility of connecting with everyone, not even on the internet and its bubbles gives this possibility. It was through this insight that I saw art as a way of working and started to build my career.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I started painting on the streets in 2014, here in the state of DF. I used to live in what we call “satellite city”, in Sobradinho, 26km away from the big city (Brasilia). The graffiti point was/is a street in the city, called W3 Sul, but I started painting more in Sobradinho, because it was easier to get around, and I got to know the streets better. My friends I met because of graffiti, they lived in another satellite city, which was on the other side of the state, you couldn’t meet to paint together, every time. So my process at the beginning was to paint alone on the streets, most of the time. While this was more challenging, being a woman, it was an experience that made me grow and mature very quickly, and gain confidence in the process of painting on the streets and even in the material (spray). Gradually, I took my work more to the center of the big city as well. It’s where people from other satellite cities go to work, study… So the circulation of people is higher. The more I painted on the streets, and also at W3 Sul, the more my name and my work were recognized.

What motivates me at the moment is to occupy spaces and show that I, as a woman, have the full capacity and right to be doing this. Focusing on painting women on walls came a lot from my annoyance at seeing too many sexualized and objectified female figures drawn on walls (usually done by male artists). And as a woman making these figures, I feel reappropriated of my own image… And making other women feel that too, however unconscious, is one of the things I like most when I finish a painting in the city. I want to leave the message that we are strong, we are protagonists and we are here, despite everything.

My walls focus on the female figure, not just as a muse, but as a complete protagonist of her narrative. This identity is intensified with a well-saturated and colorful color palette, making an arrangement with botanical or graphic elements. My authorial art expands to various supports such as embroidery, digital illustrations and works on canvas.

At the age of 19, I had my first solo exhibition (Impulso, 2016) and had the opportunity to participate in national exhibitions, such as the Bienal de Graffiti Fine Art in São Paulo, and international ones, such as PLPEX in Macau, China. Throughout my career, I’ve served several clients and partners and I’ve been to international art festivals in Ecuador and France. In 2020 I received a local award, Prêmio Cultura Brasília 60 in the Graffiti Category.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Brasilia is my home. It’s where I grew up and I intend to keep growing. I may seem suspicious to speak, having Brasilia as my hometown, but until then, no other place attracted me or made me put down roots like the DF does. This is where I’m building projects, moving creatively and connecting with diverse people and cultures. Being and living in Brasilia makes me, every day, look around and see the bustle and chaos of a metropolis and, at the same time, the calm of a view from the top of an isolated mountain. If I were to ask a friend out now, we would go cycling downtown, stop for coffee at Ernesto, then go to a bookstore or go to the lakeside.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Here in Brasilia, there is a culture of running for public office. When I told my parents that I would like to pursue a different career and become an artist, it was a small shock. They want the best for me and thought that a career as an artist would not give me stability and comfort. I’m a bit stubborn and I percised with that idea in mind. In the period of 1 year of painting murals, I already had work and commercial orders, I was very happy that my parents were starting to recognize and appreciate it. today they are, without a doubt, the people who encourage me the most, and who engage me when something discourages me. Another person who supports me is my fiance, we’ve been together for 8 years and I’ve been in this artist career for 9 years. He accompanied me all this way, he was by my side through the highs and lows. Not to mention he’s still my assistant on some paintings, even if he’s not an artist haha

Website: https://www.sirenarte.com.br/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sirenarte/

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sirenarte