TO LOOK WITH QUIET EYES

My body of paintings and collages draw on selected objects from my 1970’s childhood home in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, acquired from the well-known African Art Centre which sold items handcrafted by men and women seeking to supplement their livelihoods.

In my desire to learn from and pay tribute to the visual power of these objects – notably with regard to colour, shape and material qualities – some are used directly as source material. In particular, I have engaged with the Rorke’s Drift tapestry “Birds and Figures” now in my possession, attempting a translation of the objects’ formal qualities into the language of painting.

Looking with quiet eyes, I wish to risk exploring such ‘anxiety of influence’ and lay claim to a dimension of my childhood sensory experience. In this endeavor the body of paintings also continues my long-standing interest in mythological and biblical narratives concerning the feminine.