Notes

Maria wasn’t feeling on top form the day she was tasked with weaving
ek is mooi. I saw her walk through the door of the studio and drew out
the pattern for her. Weaving text is extremely difficult and I wondered
if the look she gave me was questioning the message I had given her
with these words or simply asking me ‘How am I meant to weave this’?
She took the loom outside and started weaving on the studio stoep.
All around her the vygies were in bloom, purple veins running down
the mountains. Looking down at the purple warp and up at the
mountains she saw something in the landscape and the threads that
holds hues together. When Maria weaves, everyone comes to watch.
She will tell you that weaving is like a game for her. ‘The piece tells
you what you need to do and you express your own thoughts into its
instruction’.

Slowly she starts plucking the chords and beating down the words
‘ek is mooi’ (I am beautiful) over and over until the text starts to form
in front of her. Her eyes look different at the close of day. She looks at
me, having said nothing all day.
Hoe voel jy Maria?
Ek voel heel anders. Ek voel self mooi.

Ek is mooi was the piece that made us realize that Botterblom would
be the collection that made the everyday into something more.

(Botterblom Collection Catalogue, 2024)

Provenance

Botterblom Collection.