Sweetest Devotion (2021)

Billie Zangewa

hand-stitched silk collage

Classification:

Craft, Textile, Embroidery

Materials:

Silk

Technique:

Stitched (hand)

Dimensions:

106 x 137 cm

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society through the Collections Fund at Frieze, 2021/22

Scheme:

Collections Fund at Frieze (2016 - )

Ownership history:

Purchased from Lehmann Maupin, London by the Contemporary Art Society through its Collections Fund at Frieze, 28 September 2021; presented to the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, 2021/22

Relationship:

Lehmann Maupin, New York, London, Hong Kong and Seoul Frieze The Harris, Preston

Subject:

Black (presence)

Billie Zangewa’s work is autobiographical and centralises Black femininity, everyday domesticity and motherhood – what the artist has termed ‘daily feminism’. She combines vibrant silks, gems, haberdashery trimmings and other textile pieces in her works. Sweetest Devotion (2021) is a hand-stitched silk collage depicting a quiet scene with Zangewa’s son Mika and his uncle, at home in Johannesburg. They sit comfortably together, lost in their separate activities. It comes from a body of work inspired by the artist’s appreciation for family during Covid and the important role family plays in making her who she is. Mika’s uncle spent the first lockdown with them and was a source of strength and feelings of safety.

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