Artist Bio
Memuna McShane is a painter based in Baltimore Maryland. She was born in Sierra Leone in 1996, during a period of Civil War. She later moved to the United States, was adopted at the age of 6 and grew up in Washington, D.C with her adoptive family. She completed a BFA in Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in December 2019, and is pursuing multiple creative paths while defining her own life narrative.
Artist Statement
Memuna is taking ownership of her pain after finally being able to accept that she had a heavy and very traumatizing, non-existent childhood. She suffered great loss both physically and mentally. She lost her arm and family, but most important of all, she lost her self.
“It is hard for me to feel my own emotions and my hand transcribes them into my paintings. I paint to feel things that I normally don’t feel. I hope that the viewers can see what I feel and feel it themselves.” – Memuna
The images from her paintings come from deep within her. She starts with a vision of the painting, which may be realistic or fantastical. Once she starts a painting her hand takes over and she stops thinking. She lets raw emotions come out, without thinking about technical application. Her symbolized paintings are drawn on raw canvas, at large scale, and then completed them with color and detail.
As Memuna likes to say, “The world isn’t all rainbows and cookies. There is darkness. And I include that darkness in my paintings.” Painting has been her therapy.
Childhood
Acrylic with charcoal stick on raw canvas. 2019.
84” W x 84” H
NFS
Wut you say to me
Acrylic with charcoal stick on raw canvas. 2019.
72” W x 72” H
NFS
Where do I belong
Acrylic with charcoal stick on raw canvas. 2020.
50” W x 74” H.
Commissioned painting. Private Collection.
Nightmare
Acrylic with charcoal stick on raw canvas. 2019.
72” W x 72” H
NFS
Artist talk
Recorded Monday Nov 16, 2020 for the Austin Studio Tour