“My work carries my spirit before it carries a message. My intuition plays a vital role in the direction I go and then I compartmentalise with what I prioritise. I represent different parts of myself including; abstraction, curiosity, mythology, spirituality and introspection. Blackness is innate in my work because it is created by a black woman despite the medium or language it speaks. It is vital because proof of existence is rare in the black community and information is shared but isn’t sustained in ways that are known to us right now. I express my yearning for answers and clarity in ways that make my blackness clear even when the work is abstract. My practice embodies subtlety in a form of texture and expression, a curious mix of ambiguity and curiosity. I experiment with different textures and moulds that are formed from the earth.”
Lulama Wolf
Visual artist, Lulama Wolf Mlambo is a contemporary artist that creates neo-expression and modern African art. Her work has main themes of spirituality and she primarily draws inspiration from Mmakgabo Helen Sedibi and Ernest Mancoba but her other inspirations come from vernacular architecture, natural elements, and history. Lulama created a new collection of artworks that are currently being exhibited in Athens, Greece at The Breeder Gallery until the 21st of May 2022. The exhibition is titled, “THE RIGHT TO EASE” and it is described as a visual exploration of rest hangs. If you are interested in being a part of this exhibition but you are miles away from Greece, you can view the artworks on The Breeder Gallery website.
For her latest body of work, Wolf focuses on rest as a narrative spine around which her figures bend themselves. She considers rest as a way to think through practices of care, taking care of oneself and taking care of each other, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. The work seeks to reimagine varying possibilities of how rest is conceived – an impulse brought on by the slower pace as a result of the global pandemic – and pays attention to a new grammar of deep rest and deep care. The works presented here depict the freedom of exploring how ease is an influence in pre-colonial experiences and suggest yearnings for rest as a necessity as opposed to rest as a means to an end.
The Breeder Gallery
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