Our Father

The current collection is motivated by the African proverb. Famously known in Sepedi ‘Monna Ke Nku O Llela Teng’, which can be translated as ‘a man is a sheep, he cries silently’. The collection looks at the accepted role of a man as a ‘provider’.

The collection reminds that there is much to this role of a ‘provider’. The role means that one is always at presser of getting money regardless of the unspoken hardships involved the process. Furthermore this role leaves a man to be regarded as useless, irresponsible and voiceless, if he cannot provide. With the current collection I explore with my stories as a man or as the artist in the journey of accessing income. The journey that involves long trips with public transport, hard-labours, servitude, hustle and more. Moreover the titles of the collection are drawn from powerful idioms and proverbs.

Our Father (2025), point to the breadwinner and unspoken challenges of a breadwinner. In addition the work features the background of images of the card used to commute. To show that the aim is to be a responsible father and provide daily-bread, but not to complain about difficulties of getting the bread. The style of joining the images through knitting, also comment on working and commuting for daily-bread. Moreover, the title (Our Father) and the inscription (Our Daily Bread), they drawn from the idea of a prayer ‘our father … gives us our daily bread’. Getting daily-break is getting money thus on the noted ‘Our Daily Bread’ I used imagery of coins (working for small change).