With my work, because it often deals with gender issues, I tend to use the stitching to deconstruct certain societal perceptions: 1) that it is a craft associated with the feminine (not considered an art form), 2) the manner in which I create it which is associated with the masculine (factory, production lines) and the non-creative, reproduction of banal images.

Title of work: Nomzamo (translation of Zulu/Xhosa name: “no” (feminine prefix) = the mother of…” + struggle, endeavour, effort). This is also Winnie Mandela’s Xhosa name.

Medium: mixed (print, oils, embroidery, hand-stitching).

Dimensions: (height by width in centimetres) 4 pieces, each 85 cm by 60 cm.

Artist’s Statement: Nomzamo is a visual, chronological narrative with a focus on gender, as well racial and colonial issues, specifically within the South African context. In studying the past as a record of change we are able to visualize a future South Africa in 2034.

The work was specifically created for the South Africa’s Women’s Month exhibitions hosted by the Durban Art Gallery in 2014.