De Souza is of Portuguese, Malay, Chinese and Indian heritage. While in
his youth he steeped himself in Western painting traditions, as he
matures as an artist he is increasingly drawn back to his Eastern
origins. With this merging of a traditional Chinese medium and his own
inventive method of using it he finally feels he has found a way of
painting that adds a deeply personal dimension to his creative
expression.
...the subject matter for silk and saris is a departure from previous exhibitions. As the title suggests, there are two threads. Silk draws its inspiration from the circus aerialists who practice and perform in the large space adjacent to de Souza's studio in Fremantle. Saris has an equally local starting point. Galvanized by an idea for an exhibition, de Souza travelled to India to study and photograph classical Indian dancers. Perhaps fortuitously, his trip didn't coincide with the season for dance. Back home, he attended an evening of traditional Indian dance at John Curtin College of the Arts and these local dancers satisfied de Souza's expectations. It s from that evening that Saris was created...
(extract from curatorial essay by Jody Fitzhardinge)
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