After a stint in the corporate world, working amongst others as a graphic designer, Wouna le Roux had an opportunity to venture back into the world of art-making during the worldwide 2020 lockdown. While forced to stay home she created a machine stitched quilt from available materials around the house, which was chosen for the Changing Threads 2021 Contemporary Textile Fibre Art Awards, held at the Refinery ArtSpace in Nelson, New Zealand.
Fabric, thread and yarns have always been part of her life, making everything from wedding dresses and suits, to patchwork blankets, costumes and upholstery. The use of fabrics mostly from thrift stores or gifted by friends, as well as the ‘objet trouvé’ (found object) stems from an upbringing where nothing was ever wasted, neither food nor clothing. Everything was used, mended and reused. Clothes were passed down from the oldest to the youngest and often these would have patches and be worn thin. In a world of abundance and waste, the reuse underpinnings of Miriam Schapiro’s ‘femmage’ (collage-style work with a feminist subtext through its use of traditionally feminine materials and techniques like cloth, fabric and quilting) forms the inspiration for her work.
Originally from South Africa, Wouna le Roux has made New Zealand her home since 2010. With an education in Fine Art and History of Art, Classical Music, Philosophy, and a PhD in Afrikaans Literature, her passion for creative expression has been a constant throughout her life.
I grew up in a family of dressmakers, knitters, and crocheters. My grandmother worked as a cutter in a clothing factory, Kaplan Bros, followed by an alteration hand at the department store John Orr’s shortly after WW2.
I remember as a young child how on weekends when visiting my grandmother, everyone would gather in the sewing room. Each of the women would be working on her own garment; sewing, knitting, crocheting, and I remember vividly all the cups of tea that had to be made, usually by one of us girls. It was also here that I first started threading needles for my grandmother whose eyesight was deteriorating. In summertime, the heat would be unbearable in the sewing room, but there was always work to be done, whether it was clothing items or quilts. Winters were usually reserved for knitting and crocheting by the fireplace.
What I luckily don’t remember was that I swallowed a pin when I was 16 months old. My mother had to go back to work while my grandmother looked after me. As a dressmaker, she would always place the pins in the her mouth, as we do. Being a baby, one tends to copy what the grownups do, so I placed a pin in my mouth. When my grandma saw that, she put up a performance which resulted in me swallowing the pin. For ten days my mother was checking my nappies until the pin eventually came out. I still have the pin, and the X-ray, which shows the massive dressmaking pin in my tiny intestines.
My mother followed in my grandmother’s footsteps, and also earned a living as a dressmaker. Although my grandmother always warned that it was a ‘thankless job’ and not something she wished her daughters to pursue, it was the making-of-clothes that my mother was drawn to. While my grandmother refused to teach her the basics, she still picked up some of it while helping during late night deadlines. Once she got married and could save up to buy her own sewing machine, she went on to teach herself everything she could about dressmaking, and as a young mother and wife, started earning a living by making clothes. Fast forward 18 years, and this skill was invaluable for a single parent with three children, albeit only a small income.
My mother endeavoured not to deprive her children from these skills, and taught all three children (including my brother) to sew, knit and crochet. At a very young age, I could make clothing items, and knit my own jerseys, with the help of my guiding mother. My older sister got me inspired to also crochet decorative items, as well as dabbing in macrame.
These skills have been invaluable throughout my life, and I also ended up working as a dressmaker in my spare time, making clothes, curtains, blankets, weddings and evening gowns.
For years I experienced what a lot of other artists go through – wanting to be an artist, but getting derailed by others’ opinions that there is no money in the arts, and that it is impossible to survive as an artist. As a result I never finished my Fine Art studies, instead taking up odd jobs and later working in a corporate environment as a communications practitioner, and web and graphic designer.
As someone who grew up underneath sewing and knitting machines, watching the women in my life create beautiful wearables, keeping food on the table, and finding joy in the making process, fabrics, threads, yarn, and all things textile related, is part of my fibre.
Discontented with governments and the history of my country which brought it to its knees, I decided to relocate to another country. As an emigrant living in a liminal world, I felt like I had lost my way and was searching for the path back to my roots, and the 2020 lockdown provided that opportunity.
Art has been a constant in my life.
Textiles have been a constant in my life.
It was staring me in the face. I was to become an artist, working with textiles.
Wouna le Roux 