Mekondjo unearths unexpected archives, collecting historical photographs - sourced from books, public and personal archives, and postcards - which are then used as a starting point for the figures and landscapes in reimagined scenes. In beautifully handled works, embroidered, painted and drawn elements incorporate powerful symbolism, entwining the bodily with a spiritual realm. 

Actively collaborating with the earth, Mekondjo has many methods to prepare her surface - burying the canvas in soil, as well as preparing the surface with resin and mahangu, a millet grain and a staple food in northern Namibia. Her use of mahangu draws inspiration from, and places importance on, the women who work the land and their other ceaseless domestic labor. Canvases are then layered with additions of wild silk, and cotton fabrics are imprinted with rusted metal and salt to create vivid patterning.

‘Oudjuu we du loshilongo/ The burden of the soil of the land’ layers archival imagery in a sensory space. A women is overlaid on a map, which is sourced from the Namibia Scientific Society depicting Windhoek farm land in colonial times. The work is an homage to women, integrating a woman into the map to establish her connection and birthing of the land.