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Yvonne Morton is perhaps best known for
her colourful cutback technique with emphasis on symbolism and world
religions. Her solo exhibition at The Slade Centre features her latest work
based upon research into African cultural identities and, in particular,
informed by the strong symbolic language of the Kuba tribes of the Congo.
The Kuba people are renowned for their intricate cut-pile raphia cloth known
as 'Kasai' velvet. The designs echo the patterns on the wood engravings,
basketwork and scarifications on their bodies.
Yvonne's studies include ritual dance skirts. These are worn at special
ceremonies and are made up of panels of the finest raphia cloth, woven by
the men and embroidered with appliqué shapes by the women. The designs on
these pieced panels interweave and then disintegrate into haphazard pattern.
In a deliberate departure from her established work, Yvonne makes her fibre
cloth of raphia, silk, flax and muslin, with the addition of hand and
machine stitch. Using a restrained colour palette, loose pattern contrasts
with larger areas of rest. |
