Connected at the root by Zethu Maseko
Landedness workshop series, with participants Kedisha Coakley, Roo Dhissou, Raisa Mcclarey Francis, Mbonisi Mkhombe, , Tala Nengola, Pardeep Nijjar, Jamila Prowse, Vera Okodugha, Janhavi Sharma and Sofia Yala.
PREVIEW: Thursday 13 October, 5-7pm
EXHIBITION: October 2022-January 2023
OPENING TIMES: Everyday on Ilkeston Road. To fully access the garden: Saturday, 9am - 5pm, or by appointment
LOCATION: Primary’s Plinth Façade
Landedness is a commissioning, co-creation, and engagement programme running throughout 2022, that explores topics such as land access, custodianship, and intimacy. Through the programme Zethu Maseko has developed a large-scale quilted banner created from natural dyes in response to conversations and specific place-based experiences of Black people and people of colour.
Using ochre from Southern African soil, a wild sage plant called Imphepho and red rooibos to produce the foundational colours of this work. Zethu has incorporated the stories and contributions of those who took part in the Landedness workshops, to capture in fabric, this moment of community and collectivity, accommodated by gardening, natural dyeing and weaving. Workshop participants were Roo Dhissou, Raisa Mcclarey Francis, Mbonisi Mkhombe, Tala Nengola, Pardeep Nijjar, Vera Okodugha, Janhavi Sharma and Sofia Yala.
““Landedness will allow for the development of my practice and research around relationships to land, and how this plays a role in identity, history, and protest.””
Through several mediums and processes, Zethu practises indigenising conversations around water, land and the human experience. She has a continuous tapestry practice, exploring and depicting alternative mythological realities or unseen worlds informed by historical truths and underrepresented stories. Much of the imagery and symbols in her works derive from explorations of dream visions and give focus to memory, geography, connectivity, healing, belonging and ancestry. Through landscape audio samples, instrument experimentation and vocal expression, her sound works explore the pursuit of postcolonial identity, healing, and Afrofuturism, reflecting on truthful pasts and un-promised futures.
Landedness is supported by the British Council Cultural Exchange programme, which assists cultural organisations, festivals, artists, and creatives between the countries of SSA and the UK to create art, build networks, collaborate and develop markets and share artists’ work with audiences.
This garden was created as part of Ejaradini, a series of projects on black gardening practices by South African art collaborative MADEYOULOOK.