About the artwork:
This mixed media, abstract artwork is a visual response to the collaborative drone metal & post metal sound work, i didn’t think i could be cursed, with artist and musician, helo samo. It is a form of simulated synesthesia. This sonic collaboration was created under the name, Botrytis, for the 2022 Drone Day event online. Sonic Exploration Network Southern Africa (SenSA) made a lovely compilation of great participating musicians that was live streamed on Hamshack Radio, which is now available on their bandcamp.
On a separate note, for the sound work, we also created a collaborative artwork too. It was made using vegan acrylic paint on wood board with imagery typical of helo’s ghosts, my texture and our love for monochrome art. Process pictures are available in an Instagram post of mine.
“Caitlin Mkhasibe created three monochromatic artworks for the May 2022 ‘Synesthesia and the Student’ virtual symposium, hosted by the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists and Scientists (IASAS). As a form of simulated/ synthetic synesthesia, two of the artworks were created outdoors, in Cape Town, South Africa. Mkhasibe used mark-making to mimic the expansive and meditative sounds of nature and its textures. The works’ mediums consist of charcoal, chalk, vegan acrylic paint and ink, brush, masking tape and gel pen on 300gsm Hahnemuhle paper.
The two outdoor works are titled, Sonic Portrait of the Sea (2022), done at Kreeftebaai / Crayfish Beach, and Sonic Portrait of a Mountain (2022), done at Silvermine Nature Reserve. These artworks used expressive, abstract marks, rather than figurative representation. The field recordings accompanying these pieces were played in Mkhasibe’s video presentation as part of the ‘Synesthesia and the Student’ symposium. Her talk also included accompanying photographs of the natural spaces, the artist working on her visual response while there and close-up images of the final artworks.
The third artwork, Drone Day Sound Work by Caitlin Mkhasibe & helo samo, made for the symposium, is a visual representation of a collaborative sound work done with artist, helo samo, for this year’s global Drone Day event, coinciding on 28 May 2022. SenSA (Sonic Exploration Southern Africa) created a compilation of participating musicians, which was live-streamed on Hamsack Radio on the day of the event“
~ Excerpt from Emergent Art Space (San Francisco)’s article, ‘The Intersection of Sight and Sound’
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ARTWORK BELOW: