Frances vH Mohair Studio

Notes

Radio Sonder Grense (RSG) is the radio channel that covers the Karoo area. The Karoo is a semi-arid region of South Africa stretching out over vast, open landscapes.

This piece speaks to these vacant, desert plains where crickets and soft gusts of wind make up the soundtrack to most of the day. When you live in the Karoo, it is normal to drive for hours to reach a neighbouring town, farm, or gas station.

This piece reflects on these long stretches of open roads, and just when you get accustomed to the silence, the radio picks up on a moment of signal. Your thoughts crackle back into the now as you grab snippets of songs, stories, and the on-and-off of news. For a moment, the radio is perfectly audible as Sandra from Jansenville dedicates a track to her mother for her 80th birthday but also chooses the moment to promote the church bazaar on Saturday, the 6th of April, the local band.... You turn a corner, and the end is lost on you. Gone as abruptly as it arrived.

This piece is made from mohair from various regions of South Africa and Lesotho to show how diverse landscapes and vegetation impact the colouring and feel of a natural fibre. In addition to this, we worked with mohair from different-aged animals, demonstrating the softness of kid mohair compared to the stronger, coarser mohair of an older, adult goat. We kept the mohair in its raw form as a way of showcasing that if fabrics are made in this way, the colour, feel, and fall of textiles is determined by natural elements; rain, plant life, diet, age, the humidity of an area, and animal husbandry, instead of human intervention determining its end function.

Mohair from different-aged Angora goats and various regions show how diverse landscapes and vegetation impact the colour and feel of a natural fibre.

These panels were hand-woven using hand-spun mohair yarn and showcase the marking of its maker, the thoughts of the spinner, and the origins of an ancient fibre which has found its home in the Karoo. We then stitched these panels together and sketched in stories and pockets of sayings that pass you by, be they from the radio or tiny details of everyday life of those listening to the airwaves.

Made collectively by women artisans in the Frances vH Mohair studio.