Catherine Decôme creates art that bridges worlds, weaving together emotions, identities, cultures, and histories.
Rooted in her African and French heritage, her large-scale, layered mixed-media paintings explore ancestral memory, the pilgrimage of the self, and the transformation that emerges from embracing complexity. Each piece becomes a threshold, a meeting place between the visible and the unseen, where personal and collective histories intertwine and the resilience of the human spirit is revealed.
Born in France to a Ghanaian mother, Catherine has always lived in between continents and ways of being. Her childhood was shaped by duality: strict traditions and a vibrant African heritage, structure and imagination. Without television or toys, she turned inward, using imagination as refuge and drawing as her first language. Dyslexia and a quiet sense of displacement deepened her connection to art, allowing her to express what words could not.
At fifteen, Catherine began an international modeling career that carried her across cultures and continents. Those years expanded her perspective but also heightened her search for belonging. In 2017, during a season of healing and introspection, she experienced what she calls a profound remembering. Encountering a piece of art, she felt a quiet, undeniable recognition, a profound calling to paint. In that moment, an inner knowing awakened: this was her path. What began as therapy soon became a calling; a return not just to painting, but to her roots and the stories carried within her.
Today, her paintings serve as bridges, connecting the personal and the universal, the ancestral and the contemporary, the human and the infinite. Faces and forms emerge from textured layers that mirror the many selves, stories, and histories we each carry. The earthy tones and pigments echo the red soil of Africa, grounding her work in a sense of place and heritage. From afar, the pieces read as unified forms; up close, they reveal hidden details, much like the layers of identity and memory that shape us.
Catherine’s art doesn’t apologize for existing. There’s a raw sincerity in her work, an organic choreography of bodies, gazes, and textures. She doesn’t follow trends; she follows an inner knowing. Her brush becomes a bridge between intuition and expression. She dares to go deep, venturing into the darkness to uncover the light, painting bold, unusual faces, and the raw yet profound confrontations of life.
What inspires you most in your artistic practice right now?
Right now, I’m deeply inspired by the textures of old walls, how paint changes through time, how nature reclaims what was once human-made. I often find myself observing light and shadow, not just on surfaces, but on people’s faces, on emotions. I’m fascinated by how these contrasts reveal truth. My work always returns to that balance between shadow and light, between what we show and what we hide, both individually and collectively.
How does your cultural background or the energy of New York influence your creative process? My cultural background shapes everything, from my use of color to the way I perceive energy and emotion.
I’ve always felt that I lived between worlds, growing up French-Ghanian. Because of this, my art taps into stories of duality, resilience, and identity. My African roots connect me to rhythm, depth, and raw expression.
Living in Upstate New York has also been deeply influential, the trees, the changing seasons, the silence. Painting outdoors there gives me a sense of grounding and freedom at the same time. It’s a space where I can breathe, listen, and let creation unfold naturally, without noise or expectation.
What role does memory play in your art?
Memory is central. When I paint, I feel I connect to the ether, to messages, fragments, and memories that don’t only belong to me. My work is about remembering: remembering who we are beyond the identity, beyond the story. I think our soul comes to Earth to experience, to evolve, and to remember its essence. My art is an act of re-incarnation — bringing the invisible back into form.
What’s your ideal day in Lisbon dedicated to art and culture?
Every day feels like art to me, every encounter, every color on the street, every expression. But if I imagine an ideal day in Lisbon: I’d start early, maybe with movement, the gym or a walk, to awaken the body. Then I’d wander through the city, observing how light hits the old tiles, how people move, how the air feels. I’d spend the afternoon painting, then visit a gallery or meet with other artists to exchange ideas. The day would end with dinner among friends, good conversation, laughter, and inspiration flowing naturally. That’s art for me: connection and presence.
How do you navigate the balance between intuition and intention in your practice?
For me, intuition is quiet, a knowing that doesn’t need to speak loudly. Intention is the energy that gives it direction. My process always begins with intuition, spontaneous exploration, gestures that come before thought and then intention arrives to give form and coherence. It’s a dance between surrender and structure, between listening and shaping.
What do you hope viewers take away from your work?
I hope they remember not something external, but something within themselves. A remembrance of their soul, their purpose, their connection to something larger. My work is an invitation to look beyond the surface and reconnect with essence to feel, even for a moment, why we came here.
