Machete Prints

My artwork is deliberately devoid of images of people. Rather, I reflect the void that expatriates experience, by referencing their absence using anonymous items to represent them. Throughout Africa, machetes are used agriculturally and in the felling of trees, but they also symbolize loss through their use as weapons. Machetes have come to symbolize for me the feelings of dismemberment, dislocation and isolation one feels when first trying to adjust to a new country. Through experimentation, I discovered that by using homemade printing ink made from dishwashing liquid, acrylic paint and clothing dyes, I could create unique monoprints from the blade of machetes. These prints then inspired me to develop themes that reflect the expatriate experience of 'loss'.