Page 66 - Tributaries Catalogue

Nehemiah’s third garment,
“transcendence,” represents his

encounter, on day three, with “a
place where nature and nurture

meet.” A hike through a kloof led to
a crystal pool, pure enough to drink

from. The feeling of transcendence
was heightened by the previous

day’s “hopeless and macabre series
of events.” Nehemiah fashioned

these garments to capture not
pristine nature, but a transcendent

motif for the human condition: the
“dynamic tension of opposites.”
These garments show “how

constriction can support flow, and

how weightless and heavy fabrics
co-exist.” Also, he adds, juxtaposed
variations of white (solid, stripes

and embroidered blossom mesh),

and belted fluidity represents a
more aware, complex humanity
engaging in better ways with water.

5

7