APRIL KAMUNDE

Initially responding to the state of deep fatigue within herself and many of the women in her life, Kamunde’s compositions magnify worlds in which black women are the protagonists, reclaiming connection to themselves, their time and their pleasure.

In her latest body of work, Fabric of our Being, an extension of the ongoing series Rest: The Pursuit of Peace, Kamunde further examines the dera. This dress features in her work as a motif for rest, and now, in this suite of paintings, Kamunde teases out the more nuanced and sometimes contradictory perceptions and projections associated with this garment. In speaking to friends, family and colleagues, as well as referencing newspaper articles as a point of departure, Kamunde found new ways to consider the dress through painting, sound, video and installation. For example, the dera is a dress that often signals rest in its looseness and comfort, but for the artist and other women in her life, it also serves as a ‘uniform’ of sorts, suitable for chores around the house, for working from home and on and on. Additionally, as it originated in Yemen, and then through trade routes arrived in Somalia and later the Kenyan coast and further inland, the dera was designed for warm weather climates as characterised by its loose fitting and light nature. With no zips or buttons, it also straddles the line between modesty and sensuality in how it falls on the body, suggesting a push and pull between respectability and presentability.

Courtesy Afriart Gallery, Kampala.