PARR KZN Reflection : Liz Kobusinge

It has become increasingly essential that I ground my practice in communal thinking and working, and ‘The Fold’ in Durban was a clear picture of why. One night, after a very long day, (if I match memory to document, my clothes say it was the day we visited Phansi Museum and Umlazi), Sheila, Lesiba, Thabiso, and I agreed to extend a busy day of meeting other art makers and knowledge keepers/seekers into a night session of process work.

Gathered in a loose circle that shifted as people joined or left to get some rest, we ripped bark cloth in preparation for the pulping process. We fell into an easy rhythm on the back porch of Ehkweni, passing a phone around to give everyone a chance to pick the next song in the playlist. Right there within that moment, our shared labour soundtracked by music that was both a knowing and showing of ourselves to each other was ‘the thing’. A reverberation of the intentional generosity that buoyed us throughout our time in this city. I don’t think we took any photos of that night, although the memories of it still haunt my Spotify algorithm. I guess what I am saying is that we, across borders, cultures, generations, and histories, worked well together. There was a curiosity which we all shared about each other’s work and the work of the people we met in Durban that could only result in an expansion of the ways we practice. Lesiba often pointed out, as a way of introduction to The Fold, how fashion is a way of being and doing things that is broader than clothing and textiles. We are here because we see the world and how to live with it in a certain manner. Those particular similarities textured our individual and communal approaches to art-making, and I believe it shows in how the research-centred care for each other, and the materials of our practices, as well as a reverence for knowledge and techniques that spilled over into generous sharing. It is one thing to share ideas/ideals in linked but separate art, and another to be supported to explore together the radical pathways that these materials and knowledge systems present to us. Like I said to Lee, I am grateful to the community of makers who gave us room to think and experiment together. It has been a privilege to share space in this way. I feel that it is only the beginning of something exceptional.

The New Patterns Workshop was made possible by the generous support of the National Arts Council @nacsouthafrica