Who No Know Go Know 2017
Who No Know Go Know 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
Who No Know Go Know (detail)
2015-2017
Plenty Sits Still Hunger is a Wanderer 2017
Plenty Sits Still Hunger is a Wanderer 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
Plenty Sits Still Hunger is a Wanderer (detail)
The Past is a Foreign Country 2017
The Past is a Foreign Country 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
The Past is a Foreign Country (detail)
Heidi und Heinz in Afrika 2017
Heidi und Heinz in Afrika 2017 Blaudruck cotton fabric, hand-made at Einbecker Baludruck, Einbeck, Germany 70 x 71 cm
Thanks CAT Cologne
‘Shweshwe’ cloth is also known as ‘German print’, ‘sejeremane’ in Sotho, ‘ijeremani in Zulu and ‘ujumani’ in Xhosa after 19th century German and Swiss settlers who imported blaudruck (blue print) fabric. They used it for their clothing and helped entrench it in South African culture.
My grandfather came from Switzerland in the 1930s and settled in Zimbabwe where he built the house that I grew up in and where later, my parents were attacked by a gang of thieves. They were beaten black and blue with golf clubs and left Zimbabwe soon afterwards.
In October 2017 I was invited by CAT Cologne to do a residency in Germany. I was fortunate enough to work in Einbeck at the oldest factory in Europe still producing blaudruck, founded in 1638.
Using the blue print (blaudruck) of the house my grandfather built and stylised bruises (bruise as blue print), I designed my own blaudruck. I also used my fingerprint as in element in some of the patterns as it evokes a crime scene and puts me into the picture.
26 Chaplin Road Blaudruck / Shweshwe 2017
26 Chaplin Road Blaudruck / Shweshwe 2017 Blaudruck cotton fabric, hand-made at Einbecker Blaudruck, Einbeck, Germany 70 x 71 cm
Thanks CAT Cologne
Patience can cook a stone 2016
Patience Can Cook a Stone 2016 Zimbabwean black granite 74 x 55 x 3.5 cm
Thanks to Pro Helvetia
Patience can cook a stone
Footprints of Illegal Border Crossings
Footprints of Illegal Border Crossings 2017 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
88 x 64 cm
Hole in Zim / SA Border Fence
Hole in the South Africa / Zimbabwe Border Fence 2017 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
88 x 64 cm
Mi Throw Mi Corn Neva Call Nuh Fowl 2017
Mi Throw Mi Corn Neva Call Nuh Fowl 2017 (in collaboration with Oliver Barnett) Heirloom maize on hessian
96 x 66 cm
The Hustle 2016 (in collaboration with Oliver Barnett)
In 2003 Eskom, South Africa’s electricity supplier launched an advertising campaign branding cable thieves “izinyoka” (the isiXhosa/isiZulu word for snake). The highly emotive TV adverts appear to be racist and seem to appeal to the superstitious nature of some Africans. Although I do not agree with some of his with his views, Gareth van Onselen writes about the campaign here: http://www.moneyweb.co.za/archive/eskom-and-the-izinyoka/
Interestingly the following year, Kwaito music star Mzekezeke released a hit song called Izinyoka, which re-appropriated the word, giving it an edgy energy. It made the izinyoka look cool and gave Mzekezeke a dangerous edge.
Some time later I stumbled across the work of Stefan Schoeman. I realised that he had a real gift for working with the plastic-flex covering that is discarded by the “izinyoka” once they have retrieved the metal from inside the cables. Stefan makes doll sculptures as well as antelope and bull heads and Rhinos out of this material. As a functioning heroin addict, Stefan is a prolific artist whose work sells well.
In this short video we weave together these different stories that all share this strange common theme.
