Artist Chronicle
Johannesburg based multidisciplinary artist, Tiisetso Banda has been honing her artistry in sculpture, photography, painting, installation and writing for several years now. Originally a pencil artist, Banda began to merge all the intricate details she has been able to capture over the years as a Fine Arts student at the University of the Witwatersrand, where she brings together the perfect unity between vast media.
Banda’s journey through exploring multi-media has lead her artistry into textile design and crochet as an art form; extending her expertise with media even further. Her use and understanding of texture, balance and variety allows her to address the complexities of abstraction within her work as she tells stories of healing through care.
Inspired by the works of; El Anatsui, Kanye West, Melina Matsoukas and many more, Banda has found her power through creating art for herself rather than creating art in response to the hardships and circumstances of others. She is a black womxn stepping into a world that hasn’t always made room for her healing, a world that constantly wants to make sense of her trauma, and through every obstacles she chooses to make art that heals the parts of her that the black womxn may relate to, as womxn are known to be the ones that bind things together.
Healing is a Labour of Love
Life is a journey of both beauty and challenges. In my experience, during times of immense pain – whether emotional or physical, the continuous act of healing becomes paramount.
Healing is a deeply personal process, that is often accompanied by introspection, acceptance and the hourglass of time. It is a transformative experience that reshapes our understanding of ourselves and that of the world around us.
In my experience, creating art has become a constant reminder that healing is possible and it is also a true testament to human resilience.
My works are greatly inspired by Neurographic art, which is a therapeutic art form, which has gained vast popularity ever since Dr. Pavel Piscarev first coined the term in 2014. Neurographica has been scientifically validated and proven, and it is one of the most widely used psychological techniques in art therapy today. Also known as doodling, neurographic art is a technique, which comprises drawing freeform lines or ‘neuro lines.’ These are meant to enable the connection between the conscious and unconscious, gaining access to the inner self by using a specific algorithm or method. It’s an art form that also engages both our aesthetic and emotional intelligence, eliciting positive changes in our reality as it has been observed to create these changes in people experiencing chronic pain and anxiety, as well as helped people gain clarity and peacefulness.
Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
Yoko Ono
These artworks were a way for me to enter a mindful, meditative, yet aware state through the creation of new neural connections when engaging in this art form. The word neurographic encompasses two concepts within it: neuro, referring to brain cells and connections between them and the body, and graphic, as in depictions of images, shapes and ideas in art. Neurographic art allows for vast creative freedom, free of inhibition and positive changes due to its simple but positively impactful technique that requires no previous art experience or age limit. The algorithm utilized in neurographic art enables us to transform and process the emotions that might have guided our freeform line drawings and turn them into new mesmerizing art. As a way to fully immerse myself in the creative process, I decided to use my left hand (weaker hand) to create the outlines which were then painted with my Right hand. My colour palette is playful further emphasizing the awakening of the inner child in their healing journey.
My works play a great role on the creation of puzzles which can be seen as a metaphor for the pieces we put back together during the process of healing. Feeling broken is a feeling I know too well and putting back the shattered pieces has been the only way I know how to heal. Healing is a Labour of Love becomes a visual representation of the pieces coming together.
Each person is an enigma. You’re a puzzle not only to yourself but also to everyone else, and the great mystery of our time is how we penetrate this puzzle
Theodore Zeldin
Some of the artworks that you observe here are process works to be transformed into collage like expensive moments that embrace the idea of putting puzzle pieces back together, and the labour of love that is the art of crocheting (a method that has been anciently known as a labour that takes time and effort, just like the act of partaking in healing) and stitching (something that we do when we have wounds). The artworks will embrace what my process of healing looks like, a controlled mess that does not boarder pages.
