Tuli Mekondjo
Ina mu dimbwa omalupe etu/ Lest you forget the likeness of us, 2022
Image transfer, mahangu, resin, spray paint, gold leaf, cotton crochet yarn, paint marker, acrylic ink, and wild silk fabric on canvas
211.1 x 174.9 cm
83 1/8 x 68 7/8 in
83 1/8 x 68 7/8 in
Tuli Mekondjo (b.1982 Angola) is a Namibian artist, whose richly multifaceted practice considers the sociohistorical context of Namibia as a site to explore ideas around ancestry and identity. Known for...
Tuli Mekondjo (b.1982 Angola) is a Namibian artist, whose richly multifaceted practice considers the sociohistorical context of Namibia as a site to explore ideas around ancestry and identity. Known for her mixed media and embroidered paintings, Mekondjo's practice is a pursuit to connect with and honor her heritage. Her practice in both mixed media and performance navigates feelings of displacement, having spent her childhood in refugee camps of Angola and Zambia during the Namibian War of Independence.
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.
Ina mu dimbwa omalupe etu/ Lest you forget the likeness of us (2022) is a mirror image of a woman, whose face is painted with white ash, used on the body in ritual. The gold halo behind her is a full moon. In Ovambo rituals the moon called upon for celebrations and blessings — asking for good harvest and fertility. When Mekondjo was making this work she looked up to the night sky and asked the moon for guidance. Holes are created in the top part of the canvas, sewn across delicately in looping patterns and painted gold, they symbolize a connection to the spiritual, ancestral realm.
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.
Ina mu dimbwa omalupe etu/ Lest you forget the likeness of us (2022) is a mirror image of a woman, whose face is painted with white ash, used on the body in ritual. The gold halo behind her is a full moon. In Ovambo rituals the moon called upon for celebrations and blessings — asking for good harvest and fertility. When Mekondjo was making this work she looked up to the night sky and asked the moon for guidance. Holes are created in the top part of the canvas, sewn across delicately in looping patterns and painted gold, they symbolize a connection to the spiritual, ancestral realm.