Without the Love (2023) utilises a digitised collage which showcases the endlessness (emptiness, loneliness and silence) of the Namibian landscape while contrasting and comparing it to the more metropolitan setting of London. Within the lower centre of the work is a figure that seems to be navigating the solitary environment of the landscape which is barren, dusty and yet still full of life (though mostly flora). Beyond the figure is a road which seems to go into the horizon, thus, suggesting the endless journey through the landscape that continues and continues both physically and psychologically.
Above the figure and the landscape is text and the wondrous skies. Concentrating on the skies- we see that the clouds give a form of tranquillity and peacefulness to the scene and help to contrast against the muddied colours of the landscape. However, the text: “The world is a cruel, cruel place / Without the Love” implies the reflection towards, as mentioned in the description of the work, London and perhaps other metropolises too. A landscape without anyone except the natural solitude that it brings is much friendlier (and ironically – potentially less lonely) than a bustling city full of millions of people. Despite the Namibian landscape being depicted as a lonely place; it compares to the loneliness in London due to the societal alienation and that people don’t know or connect within the big cities- making the loneliness psychological while the landscape of Namibia is more physical.
I’m Not Cool (2023) challenges and confronts the otherisation, the concept of exoticism and the issue of cultural fetishization which are causes of misrepresentation and discrimination. Hence, the work has become a statement that questions who gets to define what is ‘cool’ and why? It thus is directed against those who use and otherwise cultures that are not their own and calls out those who wish to assign aesthetics to people’s cultural identities.
The phrase ‘I’m Not Cool’ could be interpreted as a rejection of how Western societies seem to exoticize non-Western cultures turning these cultures into just simply an aesthetic rather than actual people- thus a form of cultural post-colonialism and otherisation. The appropriation of African culture; especially the clothing, hairstyles and art has been taken without understanding their cultural significance and thus stolen (especially in the context of the looting that European societies had undertaken in the past and even continues today in the form of neo-colonialism). The woman thus becomes a resistance against the encroaching Western otherisation and fetishism of their culture asking who gets to dictate what is cool and why.
The Object (2024) utilises phrases such as ‘FRESH!’ and ‘exotic flesh’ which mimic the language used in advertising that is used to commodify for the marketing of goods and services yet these phrases have been subverted and questioning why they are used for people and challenges the commodification of people. It questions these exploitive words and highlights how human bodies, especially those who are otherised are subjected to the Eurocentric gaze and consequently become objects. Furthermore, the term ‘addicted’ suggests that capitalist Western societies have an insatiable hunger for exoticism and they need to consume other cultures as a novelty and objects rather than treating them equally as fellow humans.
The background is fragmented and is filled with different textures and imagery that create a chaotic advertisement-ridden scene which is similar to how consumerism and capitalism pervade and control societies. These elements create a reminder that as long as the system of control exists and is not challenged it will continue to objectify and exoticise cultures and peoples. The usage of surveillance imagery intensifies this and shows how, especially BIPOC, people are constantly watched, fetishised and interpreted through a Eurocentric Western lens and perception that turns them into objects for the pleasure of the viewer. The words ‘STOP STARING AT’ thus refuses the otherisation and fights back against the fetishisation and reclaim the space and challenges this Western-centric lens of objectifying other cultures.