Fiberworks - A Celebration of South African
Fiber and Textile Artists

Title: Imagine

Description: Listening to the strains of Gregorian monks chanting the song "Imagine" coincided with the horrific news of the London bombings this year – it seemed John Lennon rose again as the worlds he penned decades ago impacted on and inspired me -

IMAGINE there’s no heaven – Imagine there’s no hell – no religion, no country and – ‘nothing to kill or die for’ -

IMAGINE –a brotherhood of man and all the people sharing and living for today –

IMAGINE – living life in peace and the world living as one –

‘It’s easy if you try’…

Title: Energy

Description: In praise of healing -

Title: The Prosperity of the Tree is the Well-being of the Birds

AFRICAN PROVERBS

Intuitions of a Continent

Description: While working in the African Art Centre, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting many of the artists and crafters and enjoyed long and interesting talks with them and listened to stories they have related -

What I have learned is that a man who sits deep in the rural area weaving a basket or sculpting a piece of wood, has time and space for deep and profound contemplation - nature is his teacher as he observes the weather, lives of plants and animals and everyday commodities -
and in his solitude he listens to what is happening outside and inside himself - fostering a particular outlook, a cast of mind - a philosophy and so I became aware of the African Proverb and decided to have fun with the words of wisdom - using needle and thread.
It has been said - "Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation - are the sanctuary of the intuitions."

Title: Inner Voice

Description: In earlier works I depicted Zulu earplugs - discs worn in pierced earlobes.

The ear piercing ritual marked a rite of passage before puberty and symbolised opening the ears for better hearing and understanding.

"Inner Voice" has evolved from the opening of the outer ears to listening to and connecting with the universe from the inside.

Title: STAND TALL

Description: "If we stand tall - it is because we stand on the backs of those who came before us."

Yoruba of Nigeria

Title: West Coast Wildernis

Description: A carnival of colour, governed by good rains at the right time, depicts a landscape of stability and transcience.

Title: Nature Favoured Egypt

Description: An aerial photograph of the River Nile - an elongated oasis flanked by cultivated lands - triggered this panel of pattern and texture.

Title: You cannot turn the wind, so turn the sail

Description: Swahili Proverb.

Title: To one who does not know, a small garden is a forest

Description: Ethiopian Proverb.

Title: Receptacles - Some giving, Some taking

Description: Symbols of abundance. They carry history, energy, power - They create beginnings and endings...

Title: Fever Tree

Description: A portrait of what I feel like as Durban summers get longer and hotter. A tree too "sweats" the effects of global warming.

Title: More Trees for Africa.

Description: "We stand at a critical moment in Earths history, a time when humanity must choose its future" said Wangari Maathai - 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate.

Title: And the Desert shall Bloom -

Description: The title celebrated a biblical prophecy fulfilled as 250 million trees were planted in an extraordinary project in Isreals Negev Desert.

Leonie Malherbe