This work is a collaged multi-media drawing that references a ‘historical’ frieze. It is the central piece of a Tryptic as yet incomplete.
The piece re-imagines my Africa – one that is not futuristic but references the historical familiar narrative within a Colonial mind; yet imagines that if stories could be told about a moon landing in the year of my birth, then new stories could be told about such elevated concepts as leaving the Earth to experience something new. To experience power by looking at and looking to – the gaze of othering. This time though, this reference suggests that the link between the past, present and future must be foremost within our imagining. This time, the hurts of the past and the negation of bodies different to me/you must be fully present and must lead; and this time, the destruction of the past as the intended greedy grasp of power – must be corrected. The narrative is told in story telling form using symbol – visual imagery that was once referred to as primitive, yet is my most profound language. Each symbol tells a story and like the ‘lightning bird’ referenced to the traditional peoples in northern KwaZulu Natal it comes with a warning for those who will not listen.
