Billie Zangewa
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is a solo exhibition featuring new and recent works by artist Billie Zangewa. Zangewa creates intricate collages composed of hand-stitched fragments of raw silk. Her use of silk as a material speaks to the transformative nature of the work itself. Silk, as the “leftovers” of the chrysalis process, is a material created through transformation; it’s what remains and is illustrative of Billie Zangewa’s creative process of metamorphosizing life’s challenges and complex emotions into art. Both the artist and the material share the process of transformation.
The works in Field of Dreams are a departure from Zangewa’s recent figurative compositions that have centered on themes of domestic life. After spending two years home-bound due to the pandemic, Zangewa has shifted her gaze to a ponderance of the human condition and the interconnectivity of all living things. These multimedia works also call attention to the sociopolitical challenges facing societies today and the way these influences impact individuals and whole communities from one generation to the next. For the first time, Zangewa introduces beveled, antiqued mirrors designed to echo the organic shapes of the silk portrait, creating an immersive and reflective experience, both literally and metaphorically.
Billie Zangewa
Billie Zangewa creates intricate collages composed of hand-stitched fragments of raw silk. These figurative compositions explore contemporary intersectional identity in an attempt to challenge the historical stereotype, objectification, and exploitation of the black female form. Beginning her career in the fashion and advertising industries, Zangewa employs her understanding of textiles to portray personal and universal experiences through domestic interiors, urban landscapes, and portraiture. Her earliest works were embroideries on found fabrics depicting remembered botanical scenes and animals from Botswana, where the artist was raised, but she soon transitioned to creating cityscapes, focusing on her experience as a woman in the city of Johannesburg and her personal relationships. These works explored her experience of the male gaze, leading her to begin to think more critically about how women view themselves and what the visualization of the female gaze, through self-portraiture, could look like.VIEW ARTIST
Brandee Caoba
Brandee Caoba is an artist, curator, and visual activist whose creative and curatorial approaches are rooted in the symbiotic relationship between art and social change. VIEW CURATOR