Fiberworks - A Celebration of South African
Fiber and Textile Artists

Title: Mother Tree

Description: Constructed from blocks of reverse appliqué this is intended as a calming decorative piece, that calls up the meanings traditionally associated with trees and birds.

Title: Inventing the Wheel

Description: Celebrating the unequivocal power of ancient circular form, the composition promotes balance and visual calm while referring to millstones, wheels, coins and runic symbols.

Title: Happy Place

Description: This heavily-stitched, multi-layered piece plays with Southern Hemisphere multi-cultural symbols and cultural references across different time zones. The dark fabric is a patterned hand-dye by Amafu, the remainder of the fabrics are printed with original printing blocks custom-made for the work.

Title: Waiting

Description: A mixed media stitched collage, completed during Covid-19 lockdown. The accent colours (orange and blue) as well as the representation of chairs and birds both set up a contrast between energy and containment. The text and paper shapes are laid on top, referring to regulations and barriers. The spots and blotches do have an energy but also call up medieval images of pestilence.

Title: Bo-Kaap Collage

Description: A semi abstract representation of the Bo-Kaap area on the flank of Lions Head, Cape Town. It was always a provisional place, never quite coming to full realisation, a quality represented here by a collage-building process that peters out as it approaches the lower edge of the work, fading in simple outline.

Title: Ergo

Description: A gallery-style presentation of nine hand-printed panels. A variety of once-off, low-tec block and resist methods are showcased.

Catherine Knox