Billie Zangewa: Thread for a Web Begun
Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco
October 20, 2021 – February 27, 2022
BILLIE ZANGEWA
An Angel at My Bedside, 2020
Hand-stitched silk collage
31.89 x 46.06 inches - 81 x 117 cm
© Billie Zangewa, Courtesy of the MoAD
BILLIE ZANGEWA
Heart of the Home, 2020
Hand-stitched silk collage
43 1/4 x 53 1/2 inches - 110 × 136 cm
© Billie Zangewa, Courtesy of the MoAD
Thread for a Web Begun, Malawi-born, Johannesburg-based artist, BILLIE ZANGEWA's first solo U.S. museum exhibition will include examples of the artist's work from the past 15 years, as well as new pieces made specifically for the show. The exhibition comes at an important time for Billie Zangewa, whose career has developed primarily in Europe and South Africa. This exhibition brings her work to entirely new audiences across the United States.
Although many of the scenes depicted in Billie Zangewa's layered silk tapestries are autobiographical, there is a relatability that goes beyond her personal journey as an artist. Billie Zangewa's labor-intensive processes recall the historic implications of “women’s work” but remain a steadfastly contemporary interpretation of lived experiences. Billie Zangewa is dealing firstly with identity, as well as socio-politics around gender and skin tone, in a gentle everyday manner. She is also exploring the different roles that women play in society, including motherhood and the impact that it has individually and collectively. The images in her work are deliberately decontextualized. However, when shown in a group, their fragmentary nature is further emphasized, suggesting they are excerpted from a larger narrative.
Billie Zangewa does not make grand gestures or even overt political statements, but rather, like a kind of ‘daily feminism’, focuses on mundane domestic preoccupations; themes connecting us all. Billie Zangewa states "I use fabric and sewing, which traditionally is a female pastime, to empower myself. I tell my personal story, how it’s happening on the home front, and show the intimate life of a woman, which usually we’re not encouraged to do." Billie Zangewa views telling her own story in her own voice as a kind of personal empowerment. Historically, this has been very difficult for women in general, but for women of color in particular, with many social obstacles to overcome.
Billie Zangewa: Thread for a Web Begun is curated by Dexter Wimberly, independent curator and Founder & CEO of Art World Conference.
MoAD - MUSEUM OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
685 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
