Com-fort (Variation) (1997/2022)

The Com-fort installation, originally shown at the Castle, as per my artists statement, incorporated objects that speak to more current experiences of dispossession and survival in the City of Cape Town. The installation was made up of a constructed raised platform, 12 m in diameter. The structure was sprinkled with spices viz paprika, which was used to reference the historical trade of spices and various commodities around the Cape. Braziers (drums with holes) were installed on each of the five points, with a light source to imitate a fire. A blanket was placed in the central area of the installation. Both the braziers and the blanket, point to an attempt to keep warm, or to find ‘comfort’, which is particularly pertinent to the informal settlements that established that emerged around the Castle in recent times. This work was installed in the courtyard of a castle like structure in Sharjah, called Al Hisn, surrounded by, and in conversation with the new commissioned multi-channel video work called Subterfuge that I created.