Fiberworks - A Celebration of South African
Fiber and Textile Artists

Title: The light that rules the night

Description: Often I am amazed at the splendour of God's creations, God's manifest power in the universe leads me to say, as did David, "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and its shimmering light and the stars, which you have set in place".

Title: The Feeling Throw

Description: This throw is one of a group of designs that were inspired by what transpired at Robben Island, the imprisonment of political prisoners. This throw reflects on all the feelings that the political prisoners had whilst in prison. I compared the physical discomfort, pain, cold floors and emotional pain that they experienced to pins and needles, hence the sharp triangles that assume pins and needles. I also associated the cold nights and floors with different shades of grey of which the triangles are knitted in different shades of grey.

Title: Intelligence is Golden

Description: "To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art" - (La Rochefoucauld). If you want to live long you will need to be educated about certain things like food. Indeed we can eat many different types of foods that we like without a care in the world, but there comes a time when you need to know the value of what you are eating and choose your food wisely.

Title: Headrest of Hope

Description: The headrest is one of a group of designs that were inspired by what transpired at Robben Island, the imprisonment of political prisoners. Some political prisoners who were imprisoned at Robben Island had incredible craft skills that were evidenced in the artworks that they made whilst in prison. The fact that they practiced their skills in an environment that did not encourage anything positive, is in itself a demonstration of hope. I was inspired by a particular belt that one of the prisoners wove whilst in prison. The headrest seeks to acknowledge the prisoner's craft skills and the hope that they were holding on to.

Isabella Manyuchi