Shirley Villavicencio Pizango is a Ghent-based artist with Peruvian roots, whose paintings are inspired by both her Amazonian upbringing and her later life in Belgium. She paints multiple pieces at once, often leaving certain works unfinished for some time, with white gaps across the canvas, before returning to finish them when the time is right. We spoke to her about how she’s responding to the way art has historically exoticised and subjugated people of color, by painting people with darker complexions posing with pride and strength.