Angela Kutlwano Monyai - Chasing a surname

“The threads that binds us” this is a perfect title for the themes in my work. I come from a place where most people strongly believe in ancestral bondage and that is what has been driving me to dig up and unpack where I come from and who I am, to better understand myself as a being and the values I possess.

This ancestral bond comes with physical connections to places of birth and those that have been lived in for years. It comes with a form of communication through dreams and prayer. In my work I carry these elements of the past, present and uncertainties of the future that I’m constantly interpreting. It is a spiritual journey impacting the psychological paradigm, conventional systems around cultural believes and family dynamics.

Maps are the core inspiration and cartographic metaphor to engage more on these themes of searching for a place of belonging and the nuances around that journey. The use of fabrics is an emphasis to the cultural bond, deconstructing patterns to understand this existence within the contemporary society.

Mapping bodies, places and rearranging patterns allows me to further interpret my dreams, cultural experiences, to heal, gain clarity from my paternal and maternal lineages and know myself.