Belgium-based Bahati Simoens artist grew up admiring the works of Rousseau, Gauguin and Hockney. Later in life, Bahati combined inspiration from Black artists like Cassi Namoda and Wonder Buhle Mbambo and her own childhood in Burundi and her mother’s stories of life in the Congo. I’m intrigued while also enamored by the way she depicts the figures in her art – round bodies with tiny, little heads. It’s amazing that even without facial expression as context, there is so much emotion and passion that exudes from the figures’ stance, embrace and even the most simple activity.