A Kaleidoscope of Colours By Odette Mascarenhas
"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." Those words of Confucius definitely holds true in the case of Yolanda de Sousa Kammermeier. An artist by profession, her work is highly thought of not only in Goa, but also nationally and internationally.
She seems to emerge as colourful as the paints she uses-vibrant is the word that comes to mind. Her casual attire (I like to feel free she states), belies the intensity of her warm and captivating smile. Born and brought up in Calangute, she studied at the Little Flower of Jesus, a Portuguese medium school and could not speak a word of English till she was eight. That would account for her faintly accented speech. She went off to Mumbai on a holiday and within a span of two months mastered the language. When she returned to school they were so enamoured by her prowess that they gave her a double promotion to the fourth standard, although as she modestly claims "she was just an average student."
Her father Joviano de Souza was an athlete of national fame, and often represented the House of Tata in football and athletics, her mother Augusta's skill at painting on glass bottles was, and still is, intricate and painstaking. Her siblings Ligia, Francisco, Suzanna all showed traits and prowess of their parents in music, painting and sports. Yolanda was no exception.
In the formative years at school, Yolanda was good in sport. She excelled in hockey, football and badminton. She decided to don the colours of the woman's football team. As she smilingly puts it รข?" she was a "tomboy" to the core. She captained the Indian football (women) team, and won matches making the team number two in Asia. However, it was not only against the Asian teams that she captained her teams; they played against strong teams like Germany and USA. Yolanda led from the front in the centre forward position.
It was in her final year at school that Yolanda found her true passion. Ably assisted by her mother and coached by her art teacher, she focused on art as her subject and finally joined the Goa College of Art. After five years, she was ready to take on the world. It is said that the canvas of a painter is a document of their inner self. Yolanda took up her brush and acrylic paints and breathed into her paintings the essence of her sub conscious yearnings. She is a true Goan at heart; there is no doubt about that. It echoes on those canvases.
In 1986 when still in her late 20s, she wrote a few verses on the changing face of Goa, which echoed in her paintings at an art show in 2006. She bemoans the fact that the Goa of her youth no longer exists.
Her strong bond with the past was also shown in her recent collection titled "Saudades" a series on her ancestors, which was exhibited for the Apparant show at Panaji in 2007.
Yolanda met Rudolph Ludwig Kammermeier a young German musician when he was holidaying in Goa. Their creative avenues kept them far apart for 13 long years. However, they were destined to meet again and finally tied the knot, settling in Gaurowaddo Calangute, where Rudolph, when he is not at his piano, runs a flourishing art gallery and helps Yolanda in marketing her art.
Does she get distracted when Rudolph is at his piano and she is yearning to paint? The two of them blend perfectly as a couple, and as she confesses, without his expertise in marketing on the web she would have found it difficult to carve her niche in the art world. They have a twelve-year-old daughter called Sarah, with a smile as vivacious as her mother's and an artistic temperament to boot. Little Sarah will be holding her own art exhibition shortly.
Yolanda's encouragement in developing artistic talent is not focused only on her daughter. She holds competitions for young children to let them discover their inner talent. She is discouraged by the fact that not many children from classes 6 to 12 participate. She believes that in many cases the school curriculum is so subject and percentage oriented (in some schools they do not even have an art teacher after standard five) that as a result art is not taken seriously in the higher standards. She, however, feels that this is slowly changing for the better as art is slowly being recognised as a profession.
Yolanda de Sousa Kammermeier the Goan ethos in her voice and her paintings is poignant. She epitomises the spirit and womanhood of a true Goan woman. She displays a kaleidoscope of colours not only in her paintings but also as an individual-a prominent sports woman, a gifted artist, a caring mother and a person who takes on immense social responsibility.
In 2003, to urge the public to work on the concept of peace and harmony she was part of a group show - the Daniel Pearl Memorial Festival. She has opened up avenues as a dynamic woman by giving solo shows in Bangalore and Mumbai. She firmly believes that any Goan can pursue art as a career and find it fulfilling after all she concludes painting is not a job it is her passion, so she never has to work a day in her life.
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