I think its power lies in its ability to carry a visual message that transcends the barriers of language and culture in a country as diverse as South Africa. It can evoke empathy within the viewer and bring awareness to the various social issues that we face in this country.
Art, in so many different ways, can empower the most vulnerable members of our society. It connects across many different cultures and engages in our shared values. It's a brilliant medium for educating society on different societal issues faced daily, and through education it can assist in creating opportunities.
I like to think that art can offer a way to highlight and interrogate social issues, especially in the time of social media, in whch images can be proliferated so quickly amongst people. In South Africa, a country with such a checkered past (and present), I believe it is necessary to make use of our creative gifts to try overcome challenges. On a more practical level though, art is also a great tool for community upliftment, especially amongst children
Art is something that is meant to move or inspire people, even if it's a banana peel duct tape to a wall. Every piece of art/design in whatever form has a story to tell.It starts a conversation, stirs up a feeling, gets you thinking and questioning your perceptions/outlook on matters compared to others. So art can be used to create awareness about current social issues in South Africa especially against women, it cannot show you what to do, but it can provoke something within to push people to take action or make a change about issues. Could be the first step to planting that seed of change.
I chose the theme edible flowers because the natural environment has always been a big influence in my artwork. I always used nature as my reference because it has so much to offer in terms of its organic feel and when deriving its elements to create artwork. I chose three edible flowers as my inspiration which was a sunflower, a nasturtium flower and an artichoke.
