Andry Kashivi was born during the 1950s in Cunjamba, Angola. Her family were subsistance farmers who cultivated mealies, corn, pumplah, gadolo, and other vegetables, supplemented by hunting and gathering.

As an adult, she settled at Omega in Namibia with her husband, who was employed as a sergeant in the South African Defence Force, while she worked in the military camp’s kitchen.

Andry’s eyes are lively and she is eager to share her story. ‘When I draw, I think of my mother and the way things were in Angola when I grew up. In those times, there were lots of stories, told with a bow, a song and dancing.’

She puts her mouth to her bow and sings a nasal song into the string. Putting her bow down, she says, ‘It was like this, like this. That’s why I paint’.