Silence (Blood Wedding)

Anita Dube made Silence (Blood Wedding) at a time of intense emotional disturbance. She was dealing with a failed relationship and her father was diagnosed with a fatal illness. Using real human bones as an armature, Dube sheathed them in a skin of deep red velvet and embellished them with beads and lace. Bejewelled, these pieces are effulgent; the objects embody what the artist describes as a ‘deep rejection of death’.

As we take delight in remnants of a dead person unknown to us, the beauty of these objects becomes profoundly disturbing. Bones, upon them, fabric, upon that, beads: the artist piles meaning upon meaning on the same entity.The final layer perhaps is the plexiglass case provided for preservation and display of each of the thirteen pieces. Self-consciously presenting these embellished bones as art, the work questions notions of cultural heritage, relics, the desire for possession, retrieval and appropriation.