Portrait of Owen Ndou (Venda artist)
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Like the Surrealists, Lolly is intrigued
by the tension of opposites, and particularly searches for the ‘gap’, or briefly recognised moment of connection between these opposites, which connect everything.
Her particular motivation is to explore
the worlds of diverse human culture in contrast to that of nature, and to realise the ‘gap’ between the two.
Nature and culture too often appear to operate in conflict, although humans rely on nature for our very survival. Who of us actually know the original source of petrol or apricot jam, and are able to link these with our own consumption? Are we humans,
in our delusionary sleep, already over the brink? She believes each one of us individually has the responsibility to make a change.
The history of human activity and culture, particularly our massively increasing human numbers, mostly have tragic consequences for
nature, and other humans. Humanities opportunistic behaviours and cultures have taught us to dominate nature, resulting in a totally lopsided relationship with the hand that feeds us. The less we carefully observe the “nature of things”, the more exponentially we reach the tipping point. The
point, space or ‘gap’, to which Lolly refers, lies between examples such as day and night, sleep and waking, life and death, and humanity’s diverse cultures in contrast to nature. To find this point of connection and thus raise our awareness we need to be highly alert. The ‘gap’ is apparent during intense philosophical contemplation, as she believes its visibility stems from within. Lolly’s multicultural imagery attempts to express these illusive ‘reflective spaces’ which lie between the ‘objects’. Her purpose is to create emotive moods which are not necessarily comfortable, but which represent and challenge the human condition in relation to that of nature with all its positive and negative implications, dualities and consequences.
She hopes to provoke both simple and complex responses and questions from viewers.
Internationally, and particularly in South Africa (Lolly’s land of birth) the culture versus culture debate continues, where egotism, greed, racism and opportunism seem to predominate. We humans are so busy
obsessing about our inter-human differences, and some commonalities, that we often forget to regard nature as the most important part of the survival equation. Mess this up and we are done. Avoidance at it’s best.
Are we humans simply missing the point as technology takes over? Lolly believes that the essential culture versus nature debate is too often underplayed or disregarded. She is astounded by the lopsided sense of human entitlement which abounds and believes we can no longer rely on the teachers of our many cultures or our world wide, and local,
political leaders to find the truth of the ‘gap’. Role models too often lack wisdom, insight, foresight, dignity and integrity. We need to realise, in quietness, that to find the link or ‘gap’ is a personal search, where keen observance and deep individual thought is the essential effort we need to make in order to develop a higher consciousness, in relation to nature which feeds us all, regardless of our differences. However, as technology evolves and populations bulge, so personal human contemplation time seems to hugely diminish.
She is particularly inspired by Kandinsky’s work of 1910 to 1914 where he attempts to reach this point of ‘abstract’ contemplation. He refers to the subtleties of frequency and vibration in music, art and all that exists as we know it, and discusses in his writings that “humankind is overly dominated by materialistic thinking, and our feelings are under threat of growing coarse.”
The enthusiasm and survival of LIFE and the pursuit of careful CREATIVITY is what Lolly is exploring… and its vast processes.”
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