livestock
Bartering of cattle is the first recorded trade in Southern Africa. Cattle was central to traditional Africa from ceremonies to a measure of wealth and status. The people were in control of their livestock and their wealth. Africa today is valued in terms of money. The value of money is determined by international economies and stock markets. The people of Africa are no longer in control of their wealth and destiny.
Africa's future is a commodity on the international stock markets. Each Southern African currency's intricate design and patterning serves as a background for the painted mark. The notes, worn and torn, have passed through so many hands, giving feedback of the history, memories and human lives.
Travelling from Cape to Cuba via Paris we chose this fragile fabric to hang in the centre of the space to create a walk-way for people to interact with and finger the notes which sway gently on their own axis. The fragility and weightlessness of these notes is contrasted and paradoxically linked with the massive electronic wiring system of the New York Stock Exchange. The aerial view of this marketplace with it's live wires is connected to the bloodline of livestock in the African homeland.
Bartering of cattle is the first recorded trade in Southern Africa. Cattle was central to traditional Africa from ceremonies to a measure of wealth and status. The people were in control of their livestock and their wealth. Africa today is valued in terms of money. The value of money is determined by international economies and stock markets. The people of Africa are no longer in control of their wealth and destiny.
Africa's future is a commodity on the international stock markets. Each Southern African currency's intricate design and patterning serves as a background for the painted mark. The notes, worn and torn, have passed through so many hands, giving feedback of the history, memories and human lives.
Travelling from Cape to Cuba via Paris we chose this fragile fabric to hang in the centre of the space to create a walk-way for people to interact with and finger the notes which sway gently on their own axis. The fragility and weightlessness of these notes is contrasted and paradoxically linked with the massive electronic wiring system of the New York Stock Exchange. The aerial view of this marketplace with it's live wires is connected to the bloodline of livestock in the African homeland.
NYSE - archival pigment ink prints on Hahnemuhle etching paper - 43cm x 31 cm
11 prints in a set - ZAR 40 000 (edition of 40)
11 prints in a set - ZAR 40 000 (edition of 40)