About 10 years ago in 2010 I created a painting titled “ A nation in waiting”, an observation about the state of affairs in our social construct. Back then we had a tendency of anticipating change by means of waiting, there was a lot of talk about waiting for something to happen, always waiting in darkness, waiting for change and betterment literally waiting for the unknown. On that painting I was looking at the idea of time in space of waiting. I wanted to portray the tragedy of waiting for change, hoping for better conditions of living as a people without the implication of actions, taking initiative today than tomorrow. As we wait a bit of ourselves is lost as a society and as a nation.

I find myself again in that predicament today with different circumstances, with the current adversities and uncertain times we are yet again waiting for the unknown, it’s a tragic comedy. We are a people on intimate terms with catastrophe, we seem to wrestle with despair that never paralyses our will.

The current series of works explores that burden of space between finding a solution for our complications and waiting that others usher in the desired relief. As humanity faces its complexities one would assume every society would use its ability to tailor make its path and envisage new possibilities when faced with adversity. One questions the cause of this rich humanity, the preciousness in the ordinary people’s resolute patience beyond reckon.

In these series of paintings I tap into that space in between where as a people we never see us as part of the solution to resolve some of our global challenges. We tend to be caught between our indulgence within the matrix of convenience and hope that the light will eventually catch us as figures pose towards that direction but don’t exceed the margin of the other side. The space between two realities.

It is an embedded consciousness of being complicit rather than engaged. When it comes to representation, it’s that colonial legacy that all solutions will eventually come from outside than within. We endure our adversities with great fortitude. As time passes through us we look upright and build walls around ourselves, we administer characters and expand our souls. It’s in all this sorrow and suffering toil and tribulation that we gain wisdom. One day the children of darkness will see the other side!

As we carry “The burden of the distance between two doors.”