SIMONE MANGOS

WHEN WERE YOU DRAWN TO ART?

Probably always, but I did not realise it had a name until later in high school. As a child I liked to write long compositions and some poetry.

How important has music been to your work?

I consider music to be the most important art form – there are no examples in nature and it’s entirely abstract. Looking back, I think that music paralleled my “sense” of the world more than anything else. However, I didn’t feel that I had enough freedom as a musician. My early involvement with music may help to explain the temporality, as well as my desire to dissipate one central point, focus, meaning or place in the work. The music-based works I made were just as important to me as my visual works.

What have been some of the challenges of working as an artist with a physical disability?

I’m not sure that I can say, as I have never been anything else