Empowerment through craft
- Tamar works on embroidered panel projects with other women
- Her art makes a connection between South African culture, environment and history
- She is known for her large-scale pieces on black fabric
Tamar Mason is a South African artist whose work combines embroidery with glass and ostrich eggshell beadwork. She often creates her pieces in collaboration with local women. Tamar uses black suiting fabric as a canvas for her works, fabric traditionally used for making men’s suits. This conceptual choice questions the hierarchy between so-called noble art and feminine craftsmanship. Her work explores the tension between South Africa’s natural beauty and its entangled history, subtly expressing contrasts and connections between the past and present, the visible and the invisible. Tamar’s inspiration is from her immediate environment in Mpumalanga. "I look to the mountains, forests, rock art sites, as well as to complex social realities such as illegal mining and rural prostitution," she explains. The artist holds a bachelor of arts from the University of South Africa and has exhibited widely. Her work is found in both private and public collections around the world.
Interview
- What first drew you to working with textiles?
- My first memory goes back to primary school. Our sewing teacher had a long, thin box of DMC threads in amazing, rich colours that looked like jewels to me. Doing cross-stitch with those silky threads had me hooked. Thirty years later, while working on a collective embroidery project, I understood how powerful this craft could be.
- How does your work reflect South African culture?
- I use embroidery as a tool to explore South Africa’s layered landscapes and the many generations of people who have lived in them. I use silhouettes and shadows in my craft as metaphors for past and present. My work makes scattered references to contemporary culture, historical narratives, threatened ecosystems and chance encounters.
- Can you share a memorable moment from your artistic journey?
- Early in my exploration of embroidery as a medium, I worked on a collective project with several groups of skilled women. We spent months creating 11 huge panels. Because we worked so closely on the fabric, focusing on tiny details, we never saw the full picture while working. When the panels were finally installed, seeing the entire work come together was pure magic.
- What keeps you inspired to create by hand?
- I love working with my hands. It brings an immense meditative sense of calm. When I am stitching, I think with my hands, which makes my mind quiet. Being able to transform simple materials into something richly detailed with the repetitive movements of my fingers is very rewarding.
Tamar Mason is a master artisan: she began her career in 1987 and she started teaching in 1989
Works
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Tamar Mason
