Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum,(Botswana) is one of the artists in the group show ‘Mythopoeia’ in Tiwani Contemporary, London, from April 10 until May 9, 2015
Dream of Sight, 2013.
About the artist:
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum was born in Mochudi, Botswana and currently lives and works in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Star and the Moon, 2013.
In her work she imagines parallels between ancient mythologies and futuristic sciences. Her practice includes drawings on paper, drawing installations, animation and performance.
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s works, which include drawing, animation, and installation, reveals a fascination with vanguard theories in astrophysics and geology; and an interest in discovering parallels between contemporary science and ancient mythology. Her work alludes to mythological musings on the beginning of time, geological speculations of the earth’s structure, theories on the nature of the universe, and, most recently, 18th century European Romanticist landscape painting.
Let me show you my ship, 2013.
Untitled, 2013.
Many of the landscapes in her work are fantastical reconstructions of landscapes that she has either experienced in her own travels or are projections of landscapes she imagines when she consults some of her favourite literary references, including, Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Credo Mutwa’s Indaba, My Children, among others. Furthermore, Sunstrum explores the theories of physicist Wallace Thornhill and comparative mythologist David Talbott, the forerunners of the so-called “Electric Universe Theory.” Thornhill and Talbott have identified commonalities between electro-magnetic phenomena and recurring images/symbols found in global mythologies (text Brundyn+ Gallery SA).
About the show:
Tiwani Contemporary is pleased to announce Mythopoeia, a group exhibition gathering four international artists: Mequitta Ahuja (USA), Kapwani Kiwanga (Canada), Alida Rodrigues (Angola/UK) and Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (Botswana/South Africa). The exhibition title, drawn from the Greek ‘muthopoios’ and meaning ‘composer of fiction’, points to the age-old role of storytelling and mythologising in rationalising the unknown. Working across a variety of media including painting, sculpture, photography, video and drawing, participating artists share an interest in crafting their own, new mythologies: personal cosmologies and fictional worlds with endless potential for interpreting and reinventing our reality.
