ROOTS Exhibition

X-Ray of garlic. It represents my feeling of nature, the earth and how man is blasting it apart.

Roots – “… the origin of something…”

Curation of a sensory and multi-media exhibition called ROOTS in 2016, with my own work, collaborative work and the work of other artists.

‘What is my root? From my point of view as a food artist, I feel a strong affinity with nature, fynbos and the edible plants that I have and continue to come across, particularly in the Cape and surrounds over the last 15 years. I feel that they are written into our very beings and that’s why I feel a connection to them’.
I looked at food with history and medicinal meaning and created drinks and dishes around this. I looked at colour and the dyeing of fabrics using turmeric and beetroot, photography, land art and installation with ropes and how they untwine to become singular roots from large ropes, just as roots do in nature.

JOURNEY – this dish is a translation of the trance and journey the San people take when hunting, using a natural empathogen called sceletium. Sceletium oil, kudu, wild rosemary, carrot powder.

ROOT OF COLOUR – I used turmeric root to dye the cotton. The root returns to the earth wrapped around the tree in a conceptual suggestion of The Circle of Life. By Caro Jesse, photograph by Jan Ras

VIRGIN – this is white cotton and beetroot. It talks about the root of birth and virginity. By Caro Jesse. Photograph by Jan Ras.

ALEX – a journey of a young man who cross-dresses to reflect his homosexuality. Here, a turmeric mask dries onto his face and he shows his journey in the triptych. In collaboration with Hein van Tonder as designer and photographer of the piece.