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Woven Memoir

Loom 

Memory 

Khulu's grass mats

Khulu's crocheting 

Khulu's grass mats

Making from memory, this loom was constructed using a collection of memories of my youth. This piece is a collective memoir of the women whom I witnessed growing up, creating beautiful crafts using the skills that they were taught in Bantu schools, which under the apartheid regime ensured that the black student was taught skills that would keep them inferior in society, skills that would always keep non-whites as subservient beings to white supremacy.

Exploring embodied archives

Technique

Instruction

Box weaving

line 1: over - over - under - under

line 2: under - under - over - over

Tabby weave

line 1: over - under - over 

line 2: under - over - under  

Soumak weave

line 1: loop around - loop around

​

Materials

Wool, timber

Archival Strategy

Start

Tradition

overlay

Threaded rope, timber

Tradition

Threaded rope, wool,  timber

Tradition

Transition

Unravel

Khulu's grass mats

Ncane's plastic mats

Khulu's table runner

Khulu's crocheting 

Box weave

line 1: over - over - under - under

line 2: under - under - over - over

Handwoven plastic mat

line 1: under - over - loop - under - over - loop

line 2: under - over - loop - under - over - loop

Turkish weave (carpet)

line 1: under - under - loop over - loop over - tie

Tabby weave

line 1: over - under - over 

line 2: under - over - under  

Threaded rope, wool,  timber

Recycled plastic bags

Overlay

Transition

Multiply

Tradition

Threaded rope, wool,  timber

Overlay

Threaded rope, timber

Tradition

Transition

Multiply

Tradition

Free

Break

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