While I was making my first Ndebele wallhanging 92-11 in 1992, I had some embroideries framed at an art gallery in East London. Tim Smith, the manager of the gallery was very interested when I told him about this Ndebele wallhanging which I was making and he was very keen to see it.... I showed him when it was finished and I was gobsmacked when he invited me early in 1993 to participate in a joint art exhibition with Daph Allam, a wellknown painter in East London........! Needless to say, my legs were jelly, I was totally out of breath and I was hyperventilating....! We were each assigned one long wall in the gallery to fill with our work, I had 2 1/2 months to work for this exhibition........ Another fools rush in moment for me....... I took a deep breath and accepted the invitation before the enormity of it all hit me....
I started work immediately but soon panic set in as I was not used to designing under such pressure, I really battled and felt out of my depth. I suppose it is the same problem that authors encounter.... Feeling very dispondent one day, tired and out of sorts, I phoned Tim and said that I could not do it, that I was battling........! He just calmly said that everything was planned and I must calm down and WORK! I was happy with some of the designs, others were rather mediocre but I had a deadline, a very long wall to fill and just had to try my best. I managed to make 10 quilts and decided to include 92-11 as I was so exhausted and battled with "quantity"! I suppose I was a bit overwhelmed....
The designs were very bold and I loved working with strong colours which were not part of my normal palette. I worked very long hours and fell asleep a few times over my sewing machine as the opening night drew closer. The quilts were al quilted in the ditch, not nearly enough for my fussy standards of today, but I honestly also did not have enough time to do more!
Some of the 1993 Art Exhibition Quilts - East London
I can still remember the day that I loaded the quilts in the car and took it to the gallery and helped Tim to hang it. The other wall was filled with all of Daph's beautiful paintings and she just looked like such a pro. I was interviewed by the press and was so scared that I might sound stupid.... This art world was all so new to me....
This exhibition was the first time that my work was in the spotlight. I found it exhilerating but also very frightening as I felt that I was under scrutiny and everybody was looking into my soul. It however also put me onto a different quilting path and it was instrumental in me re-defining my African roots. Since this exhibition, I became aware of how deeply rooted in this Country I am. I also received so much support and encouragement from artists in the art world for which I was and still am incredibly grateful. In those early years when I was taking very tentative steps, they gave me the support and courage to continue on this new road of discovery.
I became increasingly interested in South African themes and I chose machine applique as my preferred medium of construction. I loved the symmetry of Ethnic geometric designs and designing became easier the more I practised it....
At the time I was confronted with my own demons of not "fitting" in the normal quilting mould, but it was an experimental road which I had to travel to find my own way of visual expression in textiles.
I did not sell one quilt during the week of the exhibition, but then I received a phone call......
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