Wouna le Roux

Since I committed to a solo exhibition in September (there was still heaps of time to get all the work done when I decided to do it last year) my mum passed away. This made me think about life and death, and I eventually decided to shape my exhibition to the theme of womb to tomb. The life cycle of birth to death, and for some cultures/religions to birth again. Both womb and tomb are enclosed safe spaces where you are meant to be sheltered from the realities of this world. 

Both of these environments and phases are also transformational places, in-between spaces where one thing becomes another. Since I studied this phenomena extensively as part of a PhD and later also used it as the grounding for a Masters in Design, I opted to use this again as the base for my exhibition. Focussing on this liminal space and transitional phase where one thing has to die in order for something new to be reborn, I decided to use the cocoon form as a metaphor for the enclosed and sheltered space where change and transformation takes place. Likewise, nests also falls into this category; thinking specifically about wasps, termites, and some spiders. 

Towards the end of last year I started by experimenting with textures, some of which might end up in the work. The past couple of months I’ve started making in earnest. In the back of my mind I’m also thinking about the exhibition space and what can go where – designing an exhibition specifically for Space Studio and Gallery in Whanganui. I have ideas, but whether this could be realised in this space only time will tell. 

On our trip back to the motherland earlier this year to help sort out my mums belongings, I brought back some of her clothes, textiles and haberdashery. My mum was a formidable seamstress, and my plan is to use as much as possible of her textiles in the work for the exhibition.

Two months before the installation date. Now is the time to apply bum to seat, as my supervisor at the time liked to suggest.

Below are some of the textures I’ve been experimenting with.