In my weaving titled ‘Just Community’, I explore themes of marginalisation and stratification. Four weaves, constructed from flax twine, rope and chain strata, symbolise Namibia’s economic and class-stratified communities. The weaves are connected and intersected with scaffolding, which symbolise interstitial spaces – those in-between spaces and moments where identities are in flux, shaping and changing.

Photography by Kirsten Wechslberger

‘Just Community’ is an exploration of my feelings and thoughts about being part of and living in just communities, where margins and schemas become blurred. It focuses on questioning the status quo, creating awareness, looking out for one another and oneself, and caring and empowering through the sharing of knowledge. Due to the design, methods, and materials I’ve used, my installation intends to narrate notions of communities, webs, connections, shelter, differences, imperfections, intermediation, transparency, and honesty. These weaves are not meant to be aesthetic accomplishments, but the result of physical and emotional exploration, improvisation, and working through life situations using my senses, tacit knowledge, experiences, and materials.

Art is a media that enables the shaping of identities, while it also serves as a tool to process relationships within communities. Artists and makers negotiate and sustain their identities through their practices despite the challenges they face. Just as art making offers ways to ‘work through’ particular life challenges, narratives provide ways to make sense of difficult circumstances. Artists and makers’ narratives also reveal how quality of life and work environments impact their art practices, as narratives function in social realms and stories play a crucial role in socially sustaining artists and their making practices.

Read more about the ‘Just’ exhibition here.

 By Melanie Sarantou