Vernacular A La Mode

Vernacular A La Mode

Vernacular A La Mode

Vernacular A La Mode

Selloane Moeti

Durban | South Africa

Selloane Moeti’s paintings weave multiple narratives and cultural references that are drawn from cleansing and healing, dislocation and relocation, and her own ongoing attempts at tracing and understanding her lineage as a Mosotho woman.

Moeti paints with Imbomvu, a red clay that is used by African women to protect their skin from the sun while cultivating crops and it is used by both men and women for spiritual and physical purification in traditional ceremonies communing with the ancestors. Her paintings blend bright colours and stylized figures of women together with symbols exploring esoteric knowledge. The characters in her paintings are based on the women in her family, but rather than painting them as luscious figures intended for the male gaze, Moeti paints them as spiritual and fierce, expressing emotion over depicting realism.