Dani Lima is a visual artist from Brazil who came to New York in 1995 to pursue her artistic calling. She made the move with the help of a successful solo art show that sold out in Guatemala, where she had been an intern for the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala.
Specializing in painting and mixed media at the Art Students League of New York, she continued showing her art around New York City and began an exploration of a subject that remains alive in her work today — monsters. She loves to draw monsters and their universe, describing her creative process as a line that moves and builds “without fear of not being able to go or to come back and start all over again.” Her pieces for “Movement & Connections” reflect her musings on the “human right and personal choice to go anywhere [one’s] thoughts, dreams, or imagination lead the way.”
Dani has been working at the United Nations for sixteen years in different capacities, and she currently manages various learning programs for UN staff in New York and worldwide.
Photo by Lindsey Thoeng / Interview by DK, condensed and edited for clarity
DID YOU MOVE TO NEW YORK FOR THE UN?
I moved to New York because of art. Laughs – Yes.
I’m from Brazil, and I always wanted to leave the country to see the world. Back then, we had no internet, no cable, no nothing … I had a lot of limitations in terms of how I could see the world. It was really important for me to leave the country to see other things.
I first went to Guatemala and studied art and Spanish. I happened to get an internship at the UN there, doing verifications of violations of human rights. People were disappearing by the minute [in Guatemala at the time]. I was following the teams [that were interviewing people]. … [At the end of my time in Guatemala], I had an art show that sold out, and I used that money to come to art school in New York.
YOU SEEM TO HAVE A CREATIVE LIFE THAT’S VERY DIFFERENT FROM YOUR WORK AT THE UN. WHAT KIND OF ROLE DOES ART PLAY IN YOUR LIFE?
In the beginning, [art is] all I did, for so many years. It was my job and my career – it was the field I chose. I used to also teach art class for children, and teenagers and adults. I really enjoyed that.
When I first got a job at the UN, for a while I was still able to handle both, because I was not full-time. At a certain point I felt I had to make a decision. … [Eventually I made] the decision to go full-time at the UN. But I never really stopped drawing. This exhibition is a good opportunity for me to “revisit” the art world.
HOW DID YOU START WITH YOUR MONSTERS?
I think it came from the time I taught art class for children. When they start drawing, they doodle – they don’t get into forms right away. Then they move from that stage to a more “concrete” stage, but they’re still not attached by all the stereotypes of the world. They’re very free.
And so the first figures that they come up with are very monster-ish. But I say monster-ish not in a bad way – because a lot of times monsters are associated with being grizzly and being bad. My monsters are nice and not grizzly at all. That’s also [how children view them].
[The children I taught] wanted to draw people, but their people [would have] three legs, or one arm and one tooth, and three strands of hair or no hair …. I was always fascinated by that. I think somehow this stayed in my system.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING MONSTERS?
Maybe 20 years. Before that, I did a lot of abstract paintings, a lot of mixed media.
WOW – TWENTY YEARS OF MONSTERS, INSPIRED BY THE CHILDREN YOU TAUGHT.
When children draw, they’re singing and dancing, [and they are so free] you know, they’re not scared to destroy anything. And that’s something that [you tend to lose] once you become an adult … [when] you’re working on your art, it’s almost heart-breaking for you when something goes wrong.
I think the fear we carry as adults does not exist when you’re a child. I’m always trying to “revisit” that – that feeling, or that place – where you have no fear and you’re not afraid to do something wrong, because there is no wrong or right. There’s no good or bad, it’s just you expressing yourself.
I do exercise this “detaching yourself from everything that is pre-packed in the adult world” thing.
WHAT WILL YOU BE SHOWING AT THIS EXHIBITION?
“Bags, Monsters and Freedom of Movement”: Bags, because I have a fascination with bags, purses, wallets and clutches... I always think that we have our universe in our bags. You find things you can imagine and things you cannot imagine in these things.
In one bag you can carry your life and your story. You know, [speaking of what’s on the news now], when you see people fleeing wars, sometimes you have a little pouch and that’s it. That’s all they’re carrying. And there’s always a little something that’s important to you.
The relationship with the bag is much more than the physical appearance, or the design. It’s what you carry inside. So I decided to build my own bags. Though they don’t really look like bags, they’re housing my monsters. That’s part of what I’m going to be showing.
