Muti is a word with widespread use in African languages, including South African English and Afrikaans where it is sometimes used as a slang word for both herbal and conventional medicine. The origin of the word stems from the Zulu word for tree and traditional African medicine makes use of various natural products, many of which are derived from trees.
Traditional 'Sangomas' dispense herbal remedies to prevent or cure disease and even to prevent bad luck. Muti can also be used to describe forms of charms or spells used by traditional healers or witchdoctors and generally are fairly harmless in nature. A small minority of practitioners insist on the more sinister use of human body parts to add power to their craft. This practice has led to the digging up of graves and even more appalling, the murder and mutilation of people. I found this contradiction to be appropriate to the complexity of humans in general, the ability to heal and nuture opposed to the murderous selfishness that is the duality of our nature.
My use of the word is centered on the slang version more prevalent in the culture I grew up in and the idea that art is medicine for the soul. The surreal nature of some of the pictures relate to dream images or symbols indicating incidents or people in my life. The pictures however seem to have acquired a life of their own and the original meanings have changed and grown with the intersection of different symbols.
Most of the works for this exhibition are done using pen and ink, with the
occasional painting and coloured drawing thrown in.