This work is part of Karlien van Rooyen’s 2024 exhibition, Anamist.

Says Karlien of this work, “This piece is symbolic of the special weapon loss becomes when death marks our lives too closely. It was inspired by a dear friend who lost his father in the same war mine fought in at the age of one. The one thing he has remaining of him is a living grove of cycad ferns, his father’s favourite plants that he smuggled across borders to grow in their home.

“The bent barbed-wire handles represent the painful manipulation it takes to master our rage and despondent apathy so that we can re-engage in meaningful conversation with the cycad fossils of a world we once loved. There comes a point when you realise that if you ever want to truly live again, after experiencing a soul-twisting loss, you can choose to weave the brutalised aspects of yourself into harmonious adornment with what you love.”