Drowned Bodies Never Die

Description

South African artist Thania Petersen can trace her lineage back to Tuan Guru, an Indonesian prince brought to South Africa by the Dutch in the 18th century. Fittingly, her work interrogates colonial histories and explores hybrid identities. Her dazzling embroideries, like this middle panel from her recent Drowned Bodies Never Die tryptic, fuse styles derived from history painting and textiles and provide both visual delight and subversive content through their rich symbolism.