Notes

Van Hasselt traces the steps of textiles back to their roots; Fabrics start with rainfall, the land, the health of animals, the care of a herdsman, the process of spinning yarn and finally the making process, the last step in a long line of elements and actors that came before.

Mohair from each region was hand-spun into yarn and hand-woven by women artisans in the Karoo. The irregularity of the yarns and weave conveys the subtle shifts and changes of the Karoo’s vast horizons, her twisted knots of ancient rocks and the silence of the stories fossilized into the belly of this ancient seabed.

Using a needle and thread, women navigate their way through their minds’ meanderings; The anger in a dark dotted circle, the lightness of a faint stitch-line of quiet, the unexpected turns and swirls of shadows and passing pleasures, the thrill of rain, the silence of sunsets; A reflection of the feelings of women stitching their way through the daze, escaping into making as a way of hearing their inner voices on the canvas of fabric.