Bokani | Artist

‘As above, so below’ has been acquired by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe for the permanent collection in Bulawayo. I am deeply honoured and especially thankful to the director, curator and the whole team

‘As Above So Below’, is a large icansi adorned with symbols like gold stars, thorns, shells, and bones, each element rich in meaning. Stars celebrate mothers as faith’s custodians, while gold represents the soul’s eternal nature. The arrangement mirrored guidance from ancestors and nature’s resilience, with bones and shells nodding to traditional healing practices. While the use of thorns hints at natures self-preservation, they also symbolise the way spiritual vision is revealed and hidden by the ancestors according to worth. The geometry of this species of thorn resembles the shards of light thrown off by stars.

As above so below, 2023

206 x 542 x 72cm

Icansi (Reed mat), plant fibers, animal bones, oil paints, spray paints, thorns

Also this song🥹 a ancient Zulu praise song for kings and queens, co-opted into Christianity really captures this multiplicity of spiritual experience, the timelessness and AMDG I want to bring into the work