Kamila Hurnaum

From a young age, Mauritian painter Kamila Hurnaum has expressed through color and form what words could not convey. Where others wrote, she drew; where others spoke, she painted, finding in artistic creation her most intimate language and her preferred outlet. A graduate of the Mauritius Institute of Education and the University of Technology of Mauritius in Graphic Design, she developed a self-taught approach to painting, refining her technique through workshops with other artists and constant personal research. A visual arts teacher at St. Bartholomew's College for twenty years, she shares her passion by also giving classes to children and adults in her studio in Grand Baie. Her artistic practice, which ranges from oil to watercolor, is now enriched by sculpture, which she is gradually integrating into her future creations, demonstrating a constant desire to evolve and explore new techniques of expression.

Beyond her technical virtuosity, Kamila Hurnaum embodies the artist-storyteller exploring human identity and emotion. The female figure remains omnipresent in her creations, but it is after deep introspective work, including meditation and therapy, that she manages to paint childhood, a theme long blocked by past suffering. Her paintings then become visual diaries where surrealism and realism coexist, where contrasting colors collide to create atmospheres that are both melancholic and optimistic. Now refusing to paint to please, she creates to express what she feels, allowing each viewer to engage freely with her works. Her characters, whom she considers to be children she has given birth to, welcome her every evening into her studio, where she paints until the middle of the night, making art not just a hobby but an indispensable companion, a friend with whom she journeys in the constant exploration of the beauty of simple everyday things.