INTERVIEW: EXPLORING CULTURAL IDENTITY WITH MOSA ONE
What is social redemption? Are we all really the same? When we feel a strong need to make ourselves heard and say out loud what we think, or how Mosa does it through his art. Let’s find out together. In a world that moves at the speed of a scroll on Instagram, have we ever stopped for a moment to think about what is happening outside?
Words by Alessandra Ciccarelli
At Spazio Serra I visited the exhibition of Mosa One, an artist of Italian-Egyptian origins, who through his works tells the complexities of cultural identity and his personal challenges related to integration. His art is a powerful and personal intertwining of visual languages, where traditional elements of his Egyptian roots and contemporary influences coexist, such as graffiti culture, textile works and installations that he uses to transform stories of belonging and disorientation into a universal dialogue. Seeing his installations deeply impressed me because he managed to make tangible emotions and tensions that often go unnoticed. I found myself reflecting on how often we take for granted things that, for others, represent daily struggles or extraordinary achievements. Through his work, he reminds us that identity is not a set of rigid boundaries.
A desire for freedom and equality is what I strongly perceived. The culture of graffiti emerges in his art as a powerful and rebellious voice, which mixes with the symbols and stories of his roots to create a unique and impactful language. In this combination, there is a challenge to prejudices, an invitation to see the beauty in chaos and to recognize the value of stories that often remain on the margins. The experience of the exhibition left me with a deep sense of connection and awareness. Through his work, Mosa One invites us to look beyond the surface, to confront our perceptions and to understand how complex, but also extraordinarily enriching, it is to live between two worlds.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mosa One and being able to interview him:
How did your passion for art and in particular for graffiti begin?
In elementary school I became passionate about graffiti. A classmate of mine said he knew the “Hot Boys,” a legendary Roman group, I always saw their graffiti and their name written in giant letters on the walls of my city and this fascinated me a lot, other older friends of mine were already doing it. Partly copying them and partly driven by a need to vent, as soon as I had the opportunity to hold a spray can in my hand, I started too and from that moment I never stopped.
What was your first tag and what did it mean to you?
I don’t remember the very first one exactly, but it was probably REMO, a division of the words Re and the first two letters of my name Mosa, then I changed tags many times over time.
How did the Roman suburbs influence your creative approach?
A lot and in different phases of my life. It was the first environment to truly welcome and understand my work and my artistic vision. When traditional artistic circuits didn’t seem to accept me, the outskirts were the place where I could continue to express myself freely. Probably if those circuits had accepted me at the beginning of my artistic journey, my art would now be very little inclusive and would speak to few people as they often do! Thanks to my background, however, I want to speak to everyone and make the artistic experience even to those who, as they often say, “understand nothing about art” try it because beyond the fact of owning a work and buying it, for me the artistic experience must be for everyone.
What did it mean for you to paint at the MACRO at just 19 years old?
Absurd! Two weeks before, I didn’t even know what a museum was: I mean, I had only been there as a child, during a school trip to the Vatican Museums. As an artist, however, it may seem strange but I had never felt the need to visit a museum, because for me art was already accessible to my eyes on the street. Then, a Roman artist, Jbrock, noticed my works and showed them to the curator of the exhibition they were organizing in 2017 MACRO, ”Cross The Streets” they liked them and contacted me immediately and included me in the exhibition less than ten days before the opening. It was a sign of destiny for me, totally catapulted from the street to a museum among my idols, when you believe in your path, you just have to find the strength to do and continue.
How did you go from graffiti to a multidisciplinary art that includes textile works and installations?
It was a natural and experimental path. I am a person who experiments a lot, makes mistakes and grows. I moved away from graffiti on an expressive level because I felt the need to express myself in less frenetic and fast ways and without legal problems above all ahaha With time, you understand that the street gives you a lot, but it can also take a lot away, for this reason I am looking for ways to elevate my art, making it understandable to a wider audience.
For now none in particular, I would like to do more especially outside of Italy. Because they all teach you something and leave a piece of experience that you carry with you.
100%, as well as the Italian and, above all, Roman one. It is a mix that defines who I am.
Naturally. It comes naturally to me, like switching from Arabic to Italian and vice versa. It is a fluid process, which is reflected in everything I create.
I hope that my works help them understand themselves better or that they are a piece of the puzzle with which to build their own identity. I want them to accept who they are, without feeling obliged to choose only one part of themselves, this is the purpose of art.
Don’t give up and don’t be afraid. If you want something, you can get it, even if at first you don’t have the means to do it and what you want to achieve seems exactly the opposite of where you are now.
I try to talk about topics that go beyond borders and find points of contact and continuous dialogue, between cultures, experiences and people.
I always try to achieve it in every project. It is not easy, art serves the spirit above all but at the same time I have to support myself and pay my rent. Maintaining this balance and making it work is one of the biggest challenges for me.
I experience redemption every day. My entire artistic journey is a social redemption. I am the son of immigrants and I come from a Roman suburb, where it is easier to make a mistake than to stay on the right path. But the culture, art, education that my parents gave me and faith saved me. Making art, for me, is a redemption for the area where I come from, to challenge the prejudices of those who see me only as a “son of immigrants” “maranza” “necklace stealer” etc etc when instead I am a man of culture who makes art and does it even better than everyone else, this is the redemption. It is also a redemption for my parents, who come from a context completely foreign to the world of art, where this is seen as a simple pastime. Proving that it can be a serious path and that you can live on it is a victory that I have not yet achieved but I am trying to achieve every day.
Myself, my life and what happens in the world. Art is my way of responding to all of this.
For me it is essential. As a child I was very introverted and quiet and art was my means of expressing myself and communicating with others. Even today, through my work, I always seek that dialogue and contact with the outside world.
I don’t know, I don’t like to predict the future. But I imagine a clear vision that I have been carrying forward for years. Continuing on this path, developing and deepening my concepts to take them to an ever higher level. Making myself known more and trying to do well with art.
I would like to tackle lighter themes, such as love, peace, or painting natural landscapes. But the world is becoming an increasingly complex place, and I feel the need to reflect the times we are living in my work.
To be free to continue to be one, that is true freedom.
Words + Interview by @thatsciccarelli | Images Courtesy by SPAZIO SERRA
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