skarrelbaan
poem by Jitsvinger
‘n Meganiese god staar uit die hemel af
Op ôs’se groen marble
Zoom in en verdwaal maar bly ingeskakel
Kop in ‘n Google cloud
Voete op ‘n skarrelbaan
Soeke na vergete roetes
‘n Beter toekoms vol
Tênk punctured deur’ie speedometer se naald
Uber driver zoom oor’ie grid en stoot
‘n Carbon footprint oppie carpet van Moeder Aarde
Vinyl tapyt slang seil deur’ie gang tot na die voorkamer
Vang spore vas in patrone unique in elke
Household vertel ‘n storie
Mites sny die kortpad
Na die smokkelhuis oor die veld
Tussen debris te bespeur
Onder die straatlig gloei ‘n boeiende verhaal
Op paaie onbekend
Gemerk deur desires
Unfulfilled
Sak daai rol soes ‘n smous se pryse
Rafel uit oorie mat
Signs vannie tye
Die Maker weef garing en stof uit jou werklikheid
Maal die gees van staalwol tot satyn fyn
Mondsketse klank die contours waar ondekkers reis
Spore ets in tyd met woord en dialect oorkruis
In teksboek leefstyl riglyn in madrassa
Distrik ses strik getrek
Dis wit of weg met die massas
Remind my begin die hoofstuk
Highways deur’ie verstand sny oor’ie N1
Vanguard Drive verby Bontas tot in Namakwaland
Bloed deur’ie are van my
Hoekstaander vang lyn
Besoekers raak gelank tuis
Stranger raak bekend
Umbilical straat verryk jou
Om te stap is meditasie
Genees jouself deur te wandel
Padtekens weerkaats ‘n verlede innie voorkant
Elke porsie geselskap is
Padkos suspend die lang pad
Bepeins
Change die narrative sê die hand wat
Jou lewe se chapter skryf
Buig die knieë oppie mat
Stuur prayer clouds vol needs & wants
In ‘n dans met die siel se eternal partner
Sirkel terug na die physical te swak
Kop innie lig voet oppie grond
Skop teen die klip van soek na genot
In ‘n spiritual cul-de-sac
Lyne oppie hand expose die pad na jou skatkis
‘n Origami oopgevou se geheim word verklap
Golwe vee oor’ie strand van jou geheue
Spore op sand is gemaak van plesier
Vingerpunt volg die lyn
Die innerlike vertolk die travel
Slinger deur’ie fynbos
Skink uit die rymte
Vol is die vessel
Spiral deur die lesse van elders
Patterns is instrumental
Sleutels twist en ontlok
‘n Nuwe wentelbaan
Jitsvinger is an Afrikaaps vernacular performer from Cape Town who combines rap, poetry, self-composed music, theatre and storytelling to give his observations on issues concerning heritage, culture and especially the Afrikaans language.
...
blank is pleased to announce skarrelbaan, a solo exhibition by Igshaan Adams.
An Afrikaans colloquialism in the Kaaps (Cape) dialect, the exhibition title is a phrase that refuses translation. Referring to a particular way of moving through the world with a wary desperation to improve one’s circumstances, to be on the skarrelbaan is to be on the lookout for good fortune; hustling for jobs, money, or food.
Comprising a series of new large-scale weavings and installation, the exhibition expands on the artist’s investigations of ‘desire lines’, those paths walked into the landscape that circumvent or resist spatial planning. In Cape Town, this resistance to the confines of organised space holds a special poignancy; one of the enduring evils of Apartheid is the physical segregation and economic exclusion of people of colour by means of boundaries, highways and veld (open ground). The paths that traverse these spaces describe the journeys of people, led by intuition or necessity, in search of work and community.
Working with satellite imagery to create motifs for his tapestries, Adams invites us to witness these collective histories from above. Weaving their stories into the works on show, he transforms commonplace materials such as recycled nylon rope, string, wire and beads into precious objects.
Much like the pathways trampled into vinyl flooring tell the personal histories of a domestic space so too do these desire paths, at hundreds of times the scale, record the daily pursuits of individuals and communities.
Extending across one room of the gallery is an installation of wire sculptures that hover above a network of pathways woven out of fine gold chain. The wire ‘prayer clouds’, as Adams refers to them, represent the notion that the hopes and aspirations we send upwards to heaven could become caught, trapped in the clouds on their way to their intended destination. Adams’s clouds glint and flicker with embellishments; the glimmers of hope made tangible. They also recall the dust clouds of the rieldans, a traditional dance of courtship (desire) involving fast footwork that leaves dust from the ground suspended in the air. The grounded weightiness of the woven pathways, the lightness of the clouds, and the visual tension between the two reminds us of what it is to have one’s feet on the ground and head in the clouds.
...
Through this tracing of pathways throughout the exhibition, an imagined figure is conjured up, walking their own desire path. Her gait - know him by his gait - is determined; pursuing. Even as she walks the hard terrain, her thoughts are full of dreams and visions of success. Kop in ‘n Google cloud, voete op ‘n skarrelbaan.
…
skarrelbaan is the artist’s sixth exhibition with the gallery.
poem by Jitsvinger
‘n Meganiese god staar uit die hemel af
Op ôs’se groen marble
Zoom in en verdwaal maar bly ingeskakel
Kop in ‘n Google cloud
Voete op ‘n skarrelbaan
Soeke na vergete roetes
‘n Beter toekoms vol
Tênk punctured deur’ie speedometer se naald
Uber driver zoom oor’ie grid en stoot
‘n Carbon footprint oppie carpet van Moeder Aarde
Vinyl tapyt slang seil deur’ie gang tot na die voorkamer
Vang spore vas in patrone unique in elke
Household vertel ‘n storie
Mites sny die kortpad
Na die smokkelhuis oor die veld
Tussen debris te bespeur
Onder die straatlig gloei ‘n boeiende verhaal
Op paaie onbekend
Gemerk deur desires
Unfulfilled
Sak daai rol soes ‘n smous se pryse
Rafel uit oorie mat
Signs vannie tye
Die Maker weef garing en stof uit jou werklikheid
Maal die gees van staalwol tot satyn fyn
Mondsketse klank die contours waar ondekkers reis
Spore ets in tyd met woord en dialect oorkruis
In teksboek leefstyl riglyn in madrassa
Distrik ses strik getrek
Dis wit of weg met die massas
Remind my begin die hoofstuk
Highways deur’ie verstand sny oor’ie N1
Vanguard Drive verby Bontas tot in Namakwaland
Bloed deur’ie are van my
Hoekstaander vang lyn
Besoekers raak gelank tuis
Stranger raak bekend
Umbilical straat verryk jou
Om te stap is meditasie
Genees jouself deur te wandel
Padtekens weerkaats ‘n verlede innie voorkant
Elke porsie geselskap is
Padkos suspend die lang pad
Bepeins
Change die narrative sê die hand wat
Jou lewe se chapter skryf
Buig die knieë oppie mat
Stuur prayer clouds vol needs & wants
In ‘n dans met die siel se eternal partner
Sirkel terug na die physical te swak
Kop innie lig voet oppie grond
Skop teen die klip van soek na genot
In ‘n spiritual cul-de-sac
Lyne oppie hand expose die pad na jou skatkis
‘n Origami oopgevou se geheim word verklap
Golwe vee oor’ie strand van jou geheue
Spore op sand is gemaak van plesier
Vingerpunt volg die lyn
Die innerlike vertolk die travel
Slinger deur’ie fynbos
Skink uit die rymte
Vol is die vessel
Spiral deur die lesse van elders
Patterns is instrumental
Sleutels twist en ontlok
‘n Nuwe wentelbaan
Jitsvinger is an Afrikaaps vernacular performer from Cape Town who combines rap, poetry, self-composed music, theatre and storytelling to give his observations on issues concerning heritage, culture and especially the Afrikaans language.
...
blank is pleased to announce skarrelbaan, a solo exhibition by Igshaan Adams.
An Afrikaans colloquialism in the Kaaps (Cape) dialect, the exhibition title is a phrase that refuses translation. Referring to a particular way of moving through the world with a wary desperation to improve one’s circumstances, to be on the skarrelbaan is to be on the lookout for good fortune; hustling for jobs, money, or food.
Comprising a series of new large-scale weavings and installation, the exhibition expands on the artist’s investigations of ‘desire lines’, those paths walked into the landscape that circumvent or resist spatial planning. In Cape Town, this resistance to the confines of organised space holds a special poignancy; one of the enduring evils of Apartheid is the physical segregation and economic exclusion of people of colour by means of boundaries, highways and veld (open ground). The paths that traverse these spaces describe the journeys of people, led by intuition or necessity, in search of work and community.
Working with satellite imagery to create motifs for his tapestries, Adams invites us to witness these collective histories from above. Weaving their stories into the works on show, he transforms commonplace materials such as recycled nylon rope, string, wire and beads into precious objects.
Much like the pathways trampled into vinyl flooring tell the personal histories of a domestic space so too do these desire paths, at hundreds of times the scale, record the daily pursuits of individuals and communities.
Extending across one room of the gallery is an installation of wire sculptures that hover above a network of pathways woven out of fine gold chain. The wire ‘prayer clouds’, as Adams refers to them, represent the notion that the hopes and aspirations we send upwards to heaven could become caught, trapped in the clouds on their way to their intended destination. Adams’s clouds glint and flicker with embellishments; the glimmers of hope made tangible. They also recall the dust clouds of the rieldans, a traditional dance of courtship (desire) involving fast footwork that leaves dust from the ground suspended in the air. The grounded weightiness of the woven pathways, the lightness of the clouds, and the visual tension between the two reminds us of what it is to have one’s feet on the ground and head in the clouds.
...
Through this tracing of pathways throughout the exhibition, an imagined figure is conjured up, walking their own desire path. Her gait - know him by his gait - is determined; pursuing. Even as she walks the hard terrain, her thoughts are full of dreams and visions of success. Kop in ‘n Google cloud, voete op ‘n skarrelbaan.
…
skarrelbaan is the artist’s sixth exhibition with the gallery.
Igshaan Adams in conversation with Jitsvinger | blank projects, Cape Town
