Tiyani rikhotso biography of alberta

This tension between labour and rest is further engaged in the exhibition through an installation of erect grass mats. This upright posture is reminiscent of bodies on their feet, pouring over tasks and responsibilities. Furthermore, the disruption of the horizontal placement of the mats that would point to a resting, sitting or sleeping body is reflective of a denial of rest that black women have faced through history and still grapple with today.

Tiyani rikhotso biography of alberta: As a Defender, Mbhazima Tshepo

Moreover, the use of my old bedding not only allows me to insert a part of myself into the piece but enables me to bring a material sense of ease and softness. This transforms the traditional mat into a resting place with a more comfortable finish. This shift is reflective of visions of progress that see black women liberated from disproportionate levels of fatigue and the inability to carve out time for and spaces of rest.

Breadcrumb Home. Tiyani Rikhotso.

Tiyani rikhotso biography of alberta: In the discharge of

Tiyani Rikhotso Artist Catalogue Virtual Exhibition Rest as the Practice of Freedom This exhibition explores how rest, when embraced by Black women, can function as redress for generational lineages of fatigue. Drawing on the personal and familial archives, her most recent work, Rest as the Practice of Freedom, explored how rest can be an act of redress for generational fatigue when embraced by black women.

Held in photography, poetry and weaving, the project anchors rest as a practice that frees our bodies from the strain of oppressive systems. Furthermore, a rest practice gives black women the energy to dream up and enact liberated futures. An exploration of how rest, when embraced by Black women, can redress generational lineages of fatigue, relieve our bodies from the strain of oppressive systems and gives us the energy to dream up a future rooted in freedom and liberation.

Grass mats are used as a symbol of rest as I reflect on my personal and familial relationship with fatigue.

Tiyani rikhotso biography of alberta: In terms of Section 7 of

The disruption of the horizontal placement of the mats that would point to a resting, sitting or sleeping body when they are in use is reflective of a denial of rest that Black women have faced throughout history and still grapple with today. My practice attempts to offer up rest to the tired women in my family and beyond by transforming the surface of traditional grass mats.

This gesture is expressed as I interweave strips of my old bedsheets into the mats - the added padding emphasising a yearning for comfort, softness and ease. The material shift and expanse of the mats are ultimately reflective of visions of progress that hope to see black women liberated from disproportionate levels of fatigue and the inability to carve out time for and spaces of rest.