Year: 2024
Medium: Watercolor monotype which consists of 2 layers.
Inspired by the wild feline and the wild feminine within me.
This project is an act of appreciation for both water and the Shona culture and was shaped by the experience of making work at Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions Trust in Zimbabwe as part of the Stellenbosch Academy of Design & Photography Creative Exchange 2018. The book is a physical manifestation of the collaboration between myself and Luckmore Tashinga Majiri, a student completing his third year at the National School of Visual Art and Design in Zimbabwe.
Five fictional Water totem animals were born from the Creative Exchange. They are a reflection of five poems written by Tashinga and myself, namely, ‘Broken Loyalty,’ ‘Immersion,’ ‘Power,’ ‘Meditate’ and ‘Rebuild.’ Tashinga’s words, recorded in his Shona language literally act as a voice for the Shona culture and the sacred Zimbabwean sites. His voice and mine reflect on each other, leading to movement and translated into patterns within patterns, found across culture and in water.
The scarves carry a certain vibration, that of fluidity and empowerment. Embedded in the foundation of lived experiences, they surpass functionality. The wearing of the scarves by multiple people across cultures can lead to connection. Jews wear ‘tallits,’ tasseled prayer shawls, to be reminded of the Judaic traditional laws. Some Catholics wear shawls in order to signify unity amongst Christian churches. The groom and bride’s scarf are tied together in traditional Hindu weddings as an act of their bond.
Inspired by the power, grace and unifying force of water, ‘Biography of Water,’ or
‘Nhoroondo Yehupe Hwemvura’ as translated into Shona, invites you to immerse yourself and experience the unique feeling of water and the healing power of forming relationships. Occupying more than half of the human body, water binds us to each other, transcends ‘barriers’ and heals through mysterious means.
During this liminal chapter, I learnt how to paint with acrylics in order to work through my discomfort and fears.
Year: 2022
A BRIDGE BY THE OCEAN
where have all my butterflies gone?
where have i gone?
in-finite
figure 8 out
contracting and expanding
reaching
tasting the unknown
reborn again.
Year: 2022
Mystical illustrations applied to a limited edition range of products for the retail store, ‘Honest Chocolate’. These were rendered onto packaging for the hand-crafted, organically produced chocolate.
Michael and Anthony, the owners of ‘Honest Chocolate’, ethically harvested the cacao beans from Ecuador. This jungle, home to animals with vibrantly venomous colours, was my main source of inspiration. Images of creatures and plants were manipulated. Through combining contrasting colours and pieces of animals, I was able to create cunning, abstract dwellers of indulgence.
For this event, various countries were researched and transformed into fictional characters. For each character, texture was created using a combination of linoprints, paint and Adobe manipulation. Fragments of each personality resemble broken ceramics, mapped together.
Japan’s link to water and spirituality persuades inner blossoming due to its motherly and femininely therapeutic flavour. Its nurturing, complexly cooling nature offers refreshment. This tea is immensely detoxifying as it relieves one of all impurities and misconceptions. Simply put, it is a fragrantly fresh and purifying tea.
Russian tea offers a sense of enthusiasm, dance, rhythm, festivity and warmth. When consuming this spicy tea, one is awakened to a deeper sense of solidification. This tea cures fears with its humbling and empowering traits.
The free-spirited tea of Northern America awakens one’s inner being. One experiences emergence, transformation and the unraveling of the old into a new winged being. Allow the steam from your cup to uplift you as you sprout into your bigger self.
China’s fiery intricacy stimulates focus, alertness and confidence. Its stern, dedicated and upright approach to life can come across as impressive. Rooted in Britain, this tea is strictly and properly stylish, concerned with time and linear thinking patterns. It is straightforward in style.
This project was created for a music album, ‘The Tallest Man on Earth.’ Experimenting with collage, five dancing creatures evolved which were then translated into drypoint. They hold hands as they embrace their love of the songs.
This self-motivated project gave me the opportunity to deal with concepts of space, context and representation in a very personal manner. I drew upon Visual Studies theory and resonated with the idea that self-reconstruction is ‘always a process’ (Sitas & Pieterse, 2013: 331) in which I could allow myself to be fluid.
My project’s inspiration derived from the fury, turmoil, chaos and excitement which my external environment had on my internal environment or emotional state. Coming from a farm, I lived in Cape Town for a few weeks. The city put a spell on me. I perceived the city as a garden or playground in which a new side of me awakened. In central Cape Town, I photographed my shape-shifting shadow as it crept onto the walls, glass and streets of the city. The photographs aroused many realisations which were poetically expressed and fed back into the image-making process. I interrogate where one draws the border between you and I? Between myself and my constantly altering environments? Inside-out or outside-in, what is my affect on my environment and its effect on me?
I carved five photographs of my shadows in vinyl. Through embracing my shadow, it is brought to the light. This is emphasised by the light box and the light projections. Redefining myself through the shedding of my layers, I step into a new and ever-changing self.
Year: 2021
WARM BLUE HAWAIIAN RICE
Hawai’i
you cradle me
softening butter, oily lubrication
returning to you as
a fuller me.
microbes in soil, sustaining me
fermented pink onions
ginger flowers, milky coconut
red winged centipede.
i an essential oil
heated, diffused, frozen
yet full of flavor.
cold skin-tearing ice
i face you
this is my moment.
orchestra of koki frogs
i require constant
maintenance.
rocked by a wavy ocean
of uncertain storms
starry skies
i suck. i slurp.
tropical jungle of bean pods
my blood pressure
these antioxidants.
i am not here to
eat your process
more in less.
from sword to words
limiting or
embracing reality.
you inspire me
complexity in simplicity
simple complexity.
from push/pull
to dragonfruitful
octopeye
Life,
my breast milk, my lover.
METEOR SHOWERS OF GRACE
meteor showers of
grace
known in unknown
learning to speak from
a place of
Silence.
breathing feeling
through this constant
birth and death.
learning to reach out
to avoid being
covered up.
cutting internal cords
sulphuric steam vents
Wild orchids.
mist for lava
from exit to next
ecsta see.
BLUE FLOWER LICORICE TEA
this Sanctuary
pineapple peel juice
jungle.
the fruit is sweetest
closest to the
stem
clearing space
to fertilize my soil.
diarise. dialing up to rise.
rising in this new diet.
bacteria for compost
longing in belonging
instrumental bliss in dome
met and held
flowing together.
vinegar and oil for
garlic preservation
homemade coconut milk
you offer me a spoonful
of love sauce.
untangling
i float in the salt
wind in hair
tuning these cords.
member, ring, be and bring in
remembering.
paired meditation
being in longing
this jump.
eye to eye
i see you cry
from hour to honour and our.
from own to now
tossing and turning in
this dream
starfruit.
granola love (granolove)
we clean this screen
to see clearly.
from survival to
revival
tug in gut.
messy
startled
with my shedding.
intimacy
sinking into my sea
serve in deserve
transplanted.
these tame chickens
calling in awareness to
propagate aliveness.
read in dear
dear me
read me
read in dream.
this ocean is wild
to stay healthy.
your sadness is my sadness
learning to feel you
to feel me
from ouch to touch.
miraculous mirrorculous
curious mirror.
finding the root
of this fear
so that i may
move toward
excitement
variety. varie tea.
don’t want to get a(head) of myself
awesome. some awe.
fasting to
clear my gut, my skin.
mellifluous
receiving is a gift
within itself
gifting receiving
aloha in mahalo.
Year: 2022
yes, dear
love
honey
you are
the gold.
ask in snake
listening my way out.