Dalla Dalla,
The Trouble with Paradise
Silkscreened and embroidered Jacquard woven coton fabric
28.5" x 28.5"
(71.12 cm x 71.12 cm)
2021
The “Dalla Dalla” bus is the primary public transportation in Tanzania onto which everyone piles in to get to work. “Paradise” is woven onto the back of the windshield as a form of irony, betraying the real crowdedness and potential discomfort of riding one of these buses. This kind of use of text reflects a continual thematic paradox in my art– works serve as both a celebration and cautionary tale. Language and labor have value in expressing beauty but also exploitation, joy and sorrow.