JETTEKE DE VRIES

ARTIST WALKABOUT WITH JETTEKE DE VRIES

SATURDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2014 11AM

PARK GALLERY

Join us on Saturday at the KZNSA for an artists' walkabout of Jetteke de Vries' Discovering Home. This collection explores the concept of home and what it means to belong, as the artist expounds on the journey of identity and belonging which is captured in the lives and narratives of three generations of female protagonists. Don't miss what promises to be an enriching morning with this talented young artist.

 Please note - filming or recording of any part of this walkabout will not be permitted. Your co-operation is appreciated.

Discovering Home

This exhibition centres on the concept of home and what it means to belong. This journey of identity and belonging is captured in the lives and narratives of three generations of female protagonists. The catalyst for this exhibition was the discovery of my own dislocated identity after immigrating to the Netherlands at the age of thirteen. I discovered that my mother and my grandmother had suffered a similar trauma in that their identities were also fractured and dislocated due to moving between Southern Africa and the Netherlands throughout their lives.

The work is linked to memories of the protagonists; it is rooted in my mother’s memories of her mother and my memories and perceptions of my grandmother and my mother. Researching my family’s history of dislocation revealed a wealth of stories and imaginings that I was unaware of.   An exploration of the cultural dislocation of three generations of women in my family became the guiding force for this body of work. Spanning this body of work to include three generations gives me the opportunity to reflect on how time and space affects identity and the type of dislocation that is felt. Even though the three protagonists share a sense of cultural dislocation, the circumstances and extent of this dislocation was different for each protagonist. The type of dislocation that occurs is dependent on a particular time and the geographical space each protagonist inhabited.

The exhibition juxtaposes Southern Africa and the Netherlands in an inter-personal cultural context. Culture and identity are inextricably linked concepts and I investigate the difficulties experienced by the protagonists in their pursuit of negotiating what it means to have a dislocated cultural identity.