1. Where do you call home, and how would you describe Mersuka Dopazo?
For a long time, I didn’t have a clear answer. I was always traveling, always curious, moving from place to place as part of my process as an artist. Home became more of a feeling than an actual location—a sense of comfort, inspiration, and peace.

When I visited Bali for the first time, something just clicked. It felt familiar in a way I couldn’t explain. The pace, the people, the everyday beauty… it all made me feel settled without losing that sense of discovery I love. So now, when people ask, I say that Bali is home—not because I stopped traveling, but because it’s the first place where I felt I no longer needed to keep searching.

I would describe Mersuka Dopazo as someone who was born an artist, for better and for worse. Someone whose greatest interest is love in all its forms, with art being just one of those forms. A person full of creativity and ideas, with the rare personality that turns those ideas into reality through passion and instinct. Above all, she is a mother, and someone who understands deeply and sincerely that she truly knows nothing.

2. Do you have any training in art, or is it inherent?
Art, for me, is a way to manifest my creativity. I have taken many courses focused on technique, but I would say it’s inherent—simply a natural form of expression.

3. Do you remember the first piece of art you created, and how old were you?
In a way, I’ve been creating all my life, in one form or another. But the first piece that truly comes to mind is a landscape of Marrakech with a big “SI” in the center—a reminder that “everything is possible.” I exhibited it in a small gallery my mother helped me open when I was in my twenties. The work was full of browns and earthy tones, just like Marrakech itself.

4. Your pieces seem very time-consuming. How long does it take to complete one?
This is a difficult question, because the process of my artworks begins long before I ever stand in front of the canvas. First, I need to travel to gather materials. Then I work with my children to collect their drawings. Only after that can I begin painting.

So it takes months from the moment the process begins until the moment I sign a piece. And even then, in my opinion, they are never truly finished. I only stop working on them when they finally leave the studio.

5. You describe your work as a “travelogue from unexpected territory.” What do you mean by that?
Nice question. Essentially, all the mateals I use come from very unexpected places—the kinds of places few people think to explore. I’ll end up in the last corner of a fabric shop in India, a place nobody visits because it’s covered in dust, and there I’ll find a piece of cloth from 120 years ago that becomes the hat of one of my characters.

6. Your collages use fabrics, handmade papers, and found materials from places like India and Indonesia. What draws you to these textiles and textures, and how do you decide when a material “belongs” in a piece?
Most of the materials I use are handmade, so in a way there are many artists present in my canvases—through their fabrics, their designs, even their childhood drawings. Every material has a soul because someone created it.

When I begin a piece, I never have a fixed idea of what it will become. The painting itself tells me what it needs, moment by moment. One material leads to the next, and the artwork grows from there, step by step.

7. You trained in law before turning fully to art. Do your earlier studies inform your approach to painting and collage?
Yes, I studied law, but I always painted at the same time. I can’t clearly see how my studies have shaped my art, but I’m sure they’re part of me, so in some way they must be reflected in what I create. Every experience, big or small, shapes us and becomes part of who we are.

8. You’ve said that your process is less about deciding colors or materials in advance and more about letting one layer lead to the next. Could you walk us through a recent work and describe a moment of “shift” or surprise?
After thinking about this question for a while, I realized that every second in my work is a kind of shift. My process is so improvised that I never know what material I’ll use or what will happen next after a single movement. And honestly, that’s the magic of it.

9. Themes of travel, diaspora, memory, everyday life, and craft recur in your work. How do these elements affect your art?
I truly believe that we are all one, and that’s why I love experiencing life with so many different cultures and kinds of people. My travels shape me every day, and that directly influences the way I create.

10. How do your roles as a mother (you have six children) and artist shape the rhythm or content of your work?
Motherhood definitely shapes both the rhythm and the content of my art. I’m very grateful that I’ve always had help—first from my late mother, who supported me in ways I only fully appreciate now.

Most of the time, when I’m working, my kids paint beside me on their own canvases or sheets of paper. Later, I often incorporate their drawings into my pieces, so they literally become part of my work.

They are my biggest inspiration in life, and because of that, they’ve naturally become the main characters in many of my paintings—my muses. My art grows from the world we share together.

11. What do you hope a viewer takes away from your work?
I don’t begin with a preconceived idea of what I want to transmit, but if I think deeply about it, I realize that what I want most is for people to feel happiness when they stand in front of one of my pieces. I also hope they feel inspired.

When someone visits my studio, they often leave telling me that my work has inspired them, and that makes me feel incredibly grateful. And of course, I hope they feel curiosity—the desire to explore the thousands of small things happening within each artwork. I always say it takes years to notice all the details. That sense of discovery keeps collectors engaged, always finding something new.

12. Over the years, your work has been exhibited widely and gained global recognition. How has your sense of self or ambition changed through that process?
As an artist, I create because it’s the only way I know how to live. I feel extremely lucky to exhibit my work around the world, because it allows me to keep creating and to share a little piece of what’s happening in my mind. And hopefully, in some small way, it adds something good to people’s lives.

Interview by Jimon