Phumla Dhlamini

Mirageofmypath-01

“Mirageofmypath-01” is a digital piece which simultaneously navigates my spiritual, artistic and personal life. After discovering the constant battles with my mental health were a siren from my ancestors - a plea to reach out and connect to a passed soul who awarded me a divine gift, I began to lean into the messages that were being left in the form of dreams and visions. My gifter, who walked the earth as a man causes me to exude a masculine energy that affects not only how I navigate the physical world but also how I, as a cis-gendered black woman, are perceived in it.

Using the knowledge of conceptual digital design acquired from attaining a degree in a school of advertising, I illustrate theinteractions with my gifter and others just like him through digital design tools.

Each curved stroke represents the paths walked with my gifter on a labyrinth journey with different dimensions. Both the giver and the taker walk the same path in opposing realities to reach the same point that, for now at least, is left for me to decipher.