The Keeper of Dreams

Notes

The title of the present lot references a line from a poem by the South African poet Lebogang Mashile:

You and I
We are the keepers of dreams
We mould them into light beams
And weave them into life's seams ...

According to the artist's website, the composition of the artwork references the traditional European cannon of the Venus Pudica depicted by numerous artists over decades. The sitter, Asisipho Ndlovu Malunga, is a dancer who Caccia uses to depict what the artist believes to be the 'archetype of an African Venus'.¹

¹https://www.arabellacaccia.com/2011/12/18/caccias-girl-in-a-red-dress-part-of-everard-reads-15th-anniversary-exhibition/, accessed on the 22 August 2020.