Shangazi (For the Aunties)

Sublimation dye, embroidery, and silkscreen on polyester
46" x 94"
(116.84 cm x 238.76 cm)

2021

Shangazi explores labors of both the physical and the emotional variety (and the intersection of these two forms of labor), as well as the impacts left by those who take on the lion’s share of labor for those around them. It depicts sweetness: my aunts, resting after a long day, glowing in expression and in the depiction of pattern. The work honors traditional women and their lifelong work, thus “For the Aunties.” The figures are from an original photograph that I took of two of my aunts and one of their neighbors who live in the village of Kishimundu on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.