Shedding the Load

Beneath the wool of the sheep lies skin that could either belong to an actual sheep seeking comfort due to being silenced or a wolf that could pose a threat to those around it.The community can be viewed as a kraal where sheep are bred.They start as lambs, then grow into sheep. To fully develop, sheep need good shepherds to influence the trajectory of their lives. In this context, the sheep is a metaphor for the man, whom as a boy and throughout his life models himself around elderly men, who are  the shepherds. Through lessons learned from other men he becomes a strong man, however he also to keep things to himself. This tendency to teach men to not speak out when faced with adversity has resulted in flocks of sheep within the society. With that said, when a sheep decides to cry out is ostracised by others,thus becoming the black sheep. I believe that every sheep has the potential to turn into a wolf if it continues to bottle up. My body of work explores the different paths that the sheep could follow. I am of the opinion that the sheep that are afraid of breaking away from the flock are likely to summon the beasts within themselves and grow into wolves.  In this context,the black sheep is the most courageous because it refuses to be part of the followers and carves its own path to become a better version of itself through seeking therapy, while the rest of the flock choose to either die silent or risk becoming wolves. In this series of works, I use charcoal and ash, gauze and foil to represent the different responses to being shepherded by society. Firstly,the gauze represents the sheep that acknowledge and express their pain, thus seeking help to facilitate their healing process. The foil represents the sheep that die in silence due to their conformity/loyalty to  the flock.Lastly,the charcoal and the ash symbolise the sheep that bear potentially harmful traits, they can burn everything including themselves.These are the men we all fear...