Letting Go

Craft and 'handskill' have always been part of my creative life. When I was a young girl my

mother did a Fashion Design course and she instilled the passion for fabric, textiles and

'threads' in me too.

'Letting go' is both about acceptance of change, as well as the inevitable letting go of the past,

whilst still holding onto some of it, and honouring it in the process.

The artwork was created on a multi-coloured pastel shades bedsheet from my childhood; with

a crochet tablecloth from my grandmother's home; 2 small tablecloths from an uncle's home;

a white t-shirt with paint marks on it that I wore whilst attending an artist residence in China

in 2014; and diverse small 'leftover' fabric pieces and off-cuts of clothes made by me.

Objects loaded with memories, their own history.

Other elements include the suggestion of dressmaking patterns; the open hands from a

previous artwork of mine; a revisited close-up print of my mothers face stitched onto a piece

of handmade paper; all worked into a coherent unity with South African abstract rock engraving

symbols (that sometimes also features in my work), as grey shadows on top, an added energy

or presence.'

The blue lotus above the two hands symbolises rebirth, spiritual enlightenment, creation and

the cycle of life and death across ancient and modern traditions.