Interview with artist Anthea Missy

French-born, self-taught artist Anthea Missy began her painting career in 2014 following the completion of a master’s degree in business administration. Combining her two passions – travelling and creating – Anthea’s art reflects her personal style and motto: “Come as you are”. We have conducted an interview with Anthea.

‘Ambigender Lovers’ by Anthea Missy, Brussells, 2018

How do you nurture your street art creativity?

Hello the Crazy Mind! Thanks for having me on board! :D

Generally speaking I nurture my creativity based on what I see around me and what appeals to me: beauty in all its shapes from visual sensations like colours and urban landscapes, to sound and emotions connected to people. I get a lot of inspiration from being in the streets when I walk around my neighbourhood - usually for about 30 minutes every day. I am inspired by things that matter, and as I am evolving there is a growing importance for me to highlight social and environmental causes, minority challenges and to raise positive vibration in my work and around me.

I am also inspired by childhood and cute things like love, tenderness, and basic emotions that makes any person happy and worth living this life with others.

So all in all: beauty; challenges of the world; purity.

Sometimes I get emotions from what I see and picture a complete work in my mind that resonates with me. This is how I select my potential works from all the sketches - I just focus on what really strikes me deep within as a vision. And then I try my best to express this vision with all media possible from visual arts like street art, graffiti, paste ups, stickers, videos and also writing about my arty experiences.

What's next?  Are you working on new themes for your street art?

My new theme revolves around the environment. I’m inspired by the community I live in in Brussels. I live in a green neighbourhood called Ixelles. A couple of months ago I saw some crochet art around the trees and wondered who did them and why. As I became more ensconced in the community, I came across a project for urban renewal where dozens of trees were to be cut in our community. I also discovered a group of activists fighting to keep them and create a place where people’s needs are taken into consideration when it comes to public welfare in the neighbourhood. It is a long story, but I gradually found out that 4000 signatures are not enough to convince politicians that people have a voice and, I decided to bring my creative contribution to the collective to help make our neighbourhood more sustainable. The project is called Green Ixelles as part of Ixelles pour tous. We will campaign to plant trees and offer alternative solutions to people who are concerned about living together both outside and inside in a more sustainable way. So this is how I found myself directly involved with the community. You can join and sign the petition here:  https://www.change.org/p/mme-teitelbaum-sauvons-les-arbres-de-la-place-fernand-cocq

‘Save Our Trees’ poster for the Green Ixelles project

I believe Karma speaks, so I will also be painting a mural in Cape Town (South Africa) in February at the IPAF festival. The theme is ‘We need nature, nature does not need us‘ and I am very excited and inspired about this project. 

Concept image for IPAF Festival mural, Cape Town, South Africa

January is an explosive month for me in terms of opportunities and I am still discussing projects which will happen this year. Sometimes I wish there was two of me so I can undertake everything that I’d like to.

I will also be continuing with my project about gender and minorities acceptance to a broader extent – similar to what I did with my Ambigender Lovers campaign which spanned across three cities: London, Paris and Brussels (https://www.antheamissy.com/fragile-ambigender-lovers-by-anthea-missy/).

The making of ‘Ambigender Lovers’ screenprint.

Generally speaking, I feel a call to address important issues or new social trends connected with freedom of self-expression, feeling happy and treated with fairness, oppression or ignorance of minorities and outcasts in our society. I believe in democracy!

I will be working on the UK Peace Helmet Project customising a war helmet for the charity. I will be working alongside talented international street artists on the project.

In addition, I will also be exhibiting my work at the cultural Center Escale du Nord in Brussels in March this year. It is a collective show featuring with three female street artists: ´Le Street Art Au Feminin’. I will be producing a psychedelic installation piece in a room and paint a collaborative mural inspired by the iconic American Gothic painting which will have an Anthea Missy twist highlighting feminine powers.

I also want to broaden my story telling skills and I am interested in bringing words and typography into my visuals. 

Painting more walls and producing more street art collages while bringing meaning is what I love doing the most. 

Which are the top 3 most wanted walls that you would like to paint on?

I crave experiences and painting on walls every day. Any wall makes me happy as every wall has a personality and its own identity - from its location to its constitution; the way it takes paint; the way it reacts to and reflects light and colour during the changing hours of the day. And more importantly, who are the people who seeing it? I like to think my art is somehow universally positive no matter where I paint on earth. I feel the reward of having brought something to them, a little bit of joy in this short life.

I love walls that are located in exotic places like Asia, and also walls which take to the light well and are surrounded by trees or water. I also like new challenges associated with places I haven’t been before. All these things fascinate me.

Places where I have not been yet :

• United States: with the top choices being either San Francisco or New York
• Russia: St Petersburg 
• Australia: Melbourne 

Who inspires you the most?

I’m inspired most by my inner circle and the people who share their passions and experience with me.

What is something that you do differently?

It is hard to say what makes me different, or what I do differently. I would say that what makes my work original is I am true to myself and authentic, and very often self-driven in most of my projects.

I like what I do and I have a strong passion for self-expression. My aim is to make art that resonates positively and makes people more human, awaken and connected together. I try not to take into account what people like or don’t like about my work. I simply rely on my gut and spontaneous visions and emotional impulses instead of following any statement or trends.

In a way I am a true listener and observer of what happens around me all the time and I channel this into selected projects because I can’t make all my ideas come true at the same time :). I also want to keep pushing my art and story-telling skills.

I’m always happy to make things come true. I keep seeing much room for improvement in all I do :D.

As for what makes my work so special to people? It depends - I think they find a certain magic in it and this is what I want them to feel: hope, positivity, love, softness, life! 

‘True Friend By Buddha’, Love and Beyond series, 2017