Mother-Daughter
by
Elizabeth Vels
Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese
"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn" - Harriet Beecher Stowe (writer)
Elizabeth Vels works in mixed media where she layers fragile and cast papers, etching, thread, stitching, paint, ink and text to make artists books and small sequantial works, or larger composite pieces on streched canvas. Her work mines the archaeology of her life of which according to her "reveals the miraculous in the every day".
She has work in Major Public Collections that include the S.A National Gallery Cape Town, Pretoria Art Gallery, Durban Art Gallery, Johannesburg Art Museum, South African Council of Churches, Sasol Collection, University of Stellenbosch to name a few.
She has work in Major Public Collections that include the S.A National Gallery Cape Town, Pretoria Art Gallery, Durban Art Gallery, Johannesburg Art Museum, South African Council of Churches, Sasol Collection, University of Stellenbosch to name a few.
Poem:
MY IMAGINATION
Teilharde Fregona
My mother gets ready to go out
I inhale her perfume so rich and so deep
The smell entangles my senses like the vines of a tree
She quickly leaves and I fall off to sleep
Colours explode, fireworks of my imagination
My mind is filled with hope, memories and dreams
All the information and knowledge is kept there
Like a bag overflowing ripped at the seams
I open my eyes but my room is shrouded in darkness
I am scared of the dark, a beast of the night
I shut my eyes tightly and hear the front door
It’s my mother she’s back, things will be alright.
DAUGHTER
Charl Fregona
There are things you should know about
My silent heart,
My dumb tongue.
I know that you breathe the echo of perfume on my pillow
That you clothe yourself in my gown,
Black silk, twist your hair round,
Try to wear my frown
That you sing to keep me in
And stagger across the floor of your life
Wearing my ridiculous stilettos
Because you think you are alone.
I push back mute longing.
We see exactly who we are in our mirrors.
Because you are patterned in my cells,
I carry you across the great divide
Along that steep edge between death and forever,
Lead us through the struggle of birth into love of living.
My divine burden, my heart speaks.
I have been before.
You are not home alone
I am here with strong round walls to enclose you.
Umcabango wami
Siswati translation of poem extract coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie
Ngihogela emakha akhe ladulile nalanukelelako
Leliphunga livakala emiveni yami njengensimu yetihlahla
Imibala iyadubuka, imililo lekhona emicabangweni yami
Ingcondvo yami igcwele ngelitsemba, tinkhumbulo kanye nemaphupho
Ngivule emehlo ami kodvwa likamelo lami likhungatfwe bumnyama
Ndvodzakati
Siswati translation of poem extract coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie
Ngiyati kutsi uphefumlela emakha lamnandzi emcamelweni wakho
Utigcokisa I-gawuni yami,
Isilika lemnyama,ushwile tinwele takho,
Uzama kuswaca njengami
Kutsi uyahlabela kute ungigcine
Kungumtfwalo wami, inhlitiyo yami iyakhuluma
Ngikwentile kucala.
Awusiwedvwa laph’ ekhaya
Ngikhona netindvonga leticinile ngikukakile.
A Brief Biography of Teilharde & Charl Fregona
Tei Fregona was born in 1992 in Durban and is a student in Kloof High School.She has had three books published by Umsinsi Press. Tei sings, plays the guitar and loves reading. She is currently planning on becoming a pop star, but cannot make up her mind if she would rather train dolphins or be a trapeze artist instead. Tei has been writing poetry since she started reading and writing.
Charl Fregona was born in Prieska, in the Northern Cape, but grew up in Zimbabwe. Charl is an instructional designer at the Centre for Higher Education Development at the Durban University of Technology, and is currently studying for a PhD in web-based learning and teaching.
She has three children, loves to read and travel. Her first poem was published at the age of nine and she has subsequently been published in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States as a short story writer, a poet and a novelist. She has edited a number of poetry anthologies, one of which is Liz Vels’s collection, Handspun.