Spread Love with Aissata

It is easy to become entranced by the stunning artwork of Painter, Aissata. Her compositions are a landscape of distinctive, colorful, bold illustrations of women. Her painting style is an intercourse between rich acrylics and tall canvasses. Her replacement and transformation of hues and tones is a marriage between textures and colors, giving birth to her inimitable empowering cartoons. Her motif is primarily based on peace, love and light. This is originally an American philosophy and a serious way of living life. It was started by hippies in San Francisco {during the sixties} who were conscious enough to look outside of themselves and recognize the severe consequences of living in a society consumed by the negativity of hatred, war and pollution.

This optimistic philosophy was also adopted by Revolutionaries and Civil Rights activists who were tired of segregation and senseless acts of violence against people of color. They wanted peace so that their children could have real freedom. Adopted by people around the world in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, it became a universal positive philosophy crossing geographic boundaries.

Aissata says she is attracted to this type of living because she believes in justice and hates to see people get exploited. Exploitation comes in different forms. A common form of exploitation is profiting off of other people's work, art and concepts without paying them. It's a master mentality tracing back to the days of slavery but now has no color line.

It is an egoist mentality that, based on power and position, a person can take advantage of others becoming rich or accepting income at the expense of other people's ideas, creation and labor. Designer, Masani says that, "as artists once we create we move on to new creations because we have the gift to do so. If someone can take something from our message then our spiritual job is done whether or not they're exploiting our concepts and work because for us it is not about being solely rich through money but being rich in our souls." This is what is defined as substance. Substantial things are what fulfill the spirit producing happiness, joy, beauty and love. Rewards are rarely evenly distributed on earth and it is written as such by our Creator. Aissata is of the understanding that the belief of fairness comes from having character, logic and a good heart.

"I really believe in fairness more then anything. That is why in my art the under-dog always wins. I'm also drawn to people who use their power to fight for injustice . Because of this, Aissata says that her heroes are her mother, {who passed away} Nelson Mandela, Angela Davis and Oprah Winfrey for their consistent focus and commitment of trying to effectively make life better for those suffering from exploitation, injustice, abuse and discrimination.

Aissata's art centers on women and the beauty of womanhood or what is also defined as sisterhood. She details this in paintings like: Underestimated, Orange Women and Women Unite. Womanhood is about consistently respecting other women. It is about being confident enough to not look at other women in a competitive enemy spirit, but as sisters. This requires the absence of destructive insecurities and a conditional love of oneself. Her visual story lines are a depiction of friendship,respect,love and body image. The theme of Aissata's artistic presentation is simply-"Spread Love." A theme centering on the exclusion of a surplus of self interest and a submission to nature and a higher power.

"I want to spread love around the world through my art that is meant to awaken your senses, make you happy and feel empowered," she explains. While this idealism may seem comical and unrealistic to the mind of a masochist, doctors continue to document that in some instances there are patients plagued by illnesses who are surviving strictly on the adrenaline of love and creativity. It is the soul invasion of art therapy that gives strength to those who may be weak or sick. To spread love is to be an eternal flame of hope burning from a candle that never dissolves-defeating every element of darkness and sickness with light. It would be asinine to make a mockery out of a way of life inspired by the preservation of life for other human beings.

Aissata embodies this theme in her personal life and is therefore naturally able to exude the philosophy in her work. Her paintings are meritorious because of the power of the message she conveys and enamoring because of her ability to tell a story without speech or captions. Communication without words may be a difficult task but to do so is truly prolific because it allows everyone with sight to connect to your story.

Slender and fit, Aissata says she is inspired by running four times a week for 90 minutes. "This is the best time of day for me. While I'm running in the park I have a lot of ideas and images that go through my mind," she shares. "Sometimes a simple book is what evokes me to create. One simple phrase could trigger images and stories for my art. I'm also inspired by athletes and musicians," she reveals. "I'm most proud of my new 72 by 60 inch canvass that I recently completed featuring three women musicians jamming with lots of energy. I called it Cindy, Bibi and Beyonce. Music is my all time inspiration," she exclaims.

Aissata was born on the African Island of Sao Tome and Principe where music is a huge part of the sub-culture. She confesses that English is not her best language. She is fluent in five languages and considers herself a citizen of the world because she has been to forty-two different countries. Her experiences have influenced her approach to her art work. Aissata states that, "the body is the universal language and therefore my characters tell their own stories. My illustrations represent a strong woman who is loving, confident and bold. A woman who consistently loves and inspires. A woman who owns her body and sexuality. My women come in many different shapes and colors... just like in real life. Skinny, curvy, short,tall, dark, light...They are saying this is who I am. Accept me the way I am, it's not like you have a choice!"

Aspects of Aissata's message border on the fact that a woman should simply strive to be herself, because like a painting-a replica is never as valuable as the original. The first step of empowering others is empowering oneself. This takes consistent kindness, maturity and a beautiful spirit. When a woman begins to love and accept herself as she is, then it becomes automatic for others to treat her how she treats herself. A woman who doesn't love herself can not blame a man for viewing her how she views herself. Aissata reveals that she has no insecurities about men and finds them to be strong and wonderful. She does confess that a woman can never give a man permission to define her beauty. "Being beautiful is not about the way you look, but how much you love yourself and how you project that love onto others...that, is my opinion of being a truly beautiful woman. Men might rule the world, but they can only rule a woman's mind if she allows them to do so."

Aissata's strong focus on self-acceptance in her art has allowed her to be an invited speaker at youth seminars speaking about body image. Although she now lives in Brooklyn, New York she says that her understanding of the body was derived from her career as a model in Paris, France. As a statuesque 5'11 beauty, Aissata says, "modeling gave me an understanding of the body and it helped shape my characters who are somewhat a reflection of myself. I never had a problem with being tall but modeling made me very proud of my height." Aissata's height influences her canvasses that at time stand as high as 6'4. The height of her cartoons are a metaphor of power. She says she's inspired by the theory of a woman achieving heights normally reserved for men.

The product of revolutionary loving parents, Aissata's African background allows her to have a perspective that singer Amel Larrieux defines as infinite possibilities. This is the idea that there is no limit to what a woman can do. In African Conscious magazine, Aissata spoke about the love she has for Africa but the disappointment she feels about women being treated inferior to men. Aissata's thoughts echo the principals of former fellow model; the late Katoucha Nien. Katoucha was a strong vocal opponent against genital mutilation and the accepted abuse of young girls and women based on tradition. Aissata says, "I truly believe that without women, Africa would not survive, but ironically, they are often treated as secondary citizens, which is completely ludicrous. For our livelihood, I feel it is now urgent for men to start sharing power with women. Personally, (through my art) I would like to be a positive role model for every young girl in Africa." At least through Aissata's art, girls can in fact feel momentarily at ease and empowered. Spread Love.