September 26, 2026 - October 19, 2026
The Viewing Room Art Gallery, 492 Fehrsen Street, Brooklyn, Pretoria
The Luminescent Dawn: The Chronicles of Aethelgard
My artistic practice began with a deep fascination for fairy tale’s and folklore, using mythic archetypes to explore narrative storytelling. In recent years, however, my focus shifted sharply toward contemporary tensions: the friction of man versus machine, technological synthesis, and humanity’s destructive impact on the natural environment. With this new solo exhibition, I wanted to bridge these two paths reclaiming the fairytale lens of my earlier work and combining it with my passion for environmental commentary to create an original dark fantasy: The Chronicles of Aethelgard. Across three narrative phases, this fable evolves from the kinetic violence of forest siege (Forest by a Thousand Cuts) to the petrified grief of heroic sacrifice (The Ghostwood Collection).
To bring Aethelgard to life, my process relies on a rigorous, multi-dimensional technique of hand-cut paper layering, hand embroidery, structural paper weaving, and integrated LED back-lighting. I approach paper cutting as both a structural build and a conceptual act: every incision removes space, creating deep shadow-box channels that mirror the wounds inflicted upon the earth. Where the blade severs, hand-stitched gold metallic threads and woven root networks act as surgical sutures, bridging fragmented paper layers and physically mending the composition. Embedded lighting brings warmth to the pale paper layers and shadow, casting living pulses across the paper relief.
With The Luminescent Dawn, the story reaches its ultimate resolution—not in bleak ruin, but in a quiet, softer space of restoration. Through this marriage of labour-intensive craft and mythic storytelling, the destructive blade yields to the healing needle. My hope is that viewers step into this world to experience the possibilities of repair an invitation to see our relationship with nature not just as a history of scars, but as a living tapestry waiting to be stitched whole again with reverence, light, and grace.