Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

My artistic practice is informed by past and present narratives related to my upbringing and lived experiences in Botswana and South Africa.

I am interested in posing questions about personal responsibility in times of crisis and how individual decisions affect individuals, their families, and their nations. My photographic practice primarily involves creating performative images in which I, or other currently living family members, evoke the persona of our ancestors. I also create staged photographs that interpret the memories and emotions of the elders in my family. As a storyteller, I also incorporate documentary photography and archival material into my work to ground my work in real historical events and places.

While at Headlands

I would like to develop a new surrealist body of work. Philosophically, my past work has explored disillusionment and the search for identity, while remaining rooted in realism. I would like to take it into the realm of surrealism to explore themes of isolation and alienation. Whilst continuing to work within staged photography, I will begin to hone in on portraiture and how I can bend this genre of image-making and representation.

Furthermore, I would like to broaden my studio practice as an artist by incorporating holograms into my photographic prints to create surreal and dynamic artworks that integrate historical facts and poetic fiction, exploring the tension between everyday life and the extraordinary in a Southern African context. I also aim to create new photographic artworks with elaborate miniature sets and develop 2D photomontages and collages that incorporate images from my family and public archives.