Unfamiliar reflections

Notes

"My creative practice is rooted in childhood memories of the ocean and an enduring fascination with the natural world. As a child, I looked forward to visits to the coast, where walking through the sea and discovering unfamiliar plants, stones, shells and other natural objects made nature feel magical and mysterious, memories that continue to shape my work. The still-life tradition further evokes that atmosphere for me, particularly through its contemplation of found objects, textures and the beauty of ordinary natural forms. I explore this relationship between memory, nature and materiality through stones and organic forms that reference objects one might unexpectedly discover along the shoreline.

I am particularly interested in primitive structures and the visual language of prehistoric antiquity, where objects were closely connected to nature, ritual and human experience. Through contemporary jewellery, I reinterpret these influences into forms that exist between the natural and the constructed, the ancient and the contemporary, reflecting my fascination with form, texture and the enduring connection between humanity and the natural environment"

Statement by Xolani Mayikana, 2026

Inspired by: A monument to the iS'pantsula as mama feeds the community by Phumelele Tshabalala, 2021