Aleta is comfortable drawing and painting, her recent print Imvelo is a case in point and serves as a sort of warm up for the new show. Imvelo is a large black and white illustration of the immense natural heritage of this region and showcases this in a way that is almost manic. We live in a world bursting with so much different life.
On first impression, The Universe & me, presents a cheerful somewhat whimsical collection of paintings – pensive women, bright colours, birds, beasts, and celestial spaces. Much like Imvelo, it is a celebration, an acknowledgement of the beauty, diversity, and light we are surrounded by. The artist wants to share with us her understanding of the incredible richness of the universe we inhabit. She reminds us of the healing wonder of the natural and does so on various scales – from the domestic garden to the wilderness, to the vast cosmos. We, as viewers, are given a moment of respite from the current state of the world and allowed space to dwell on the positive.
The Universe and Me is not, however, all fun and games. There is concern at its heart, an unsettling tension that is essentially a critique of our way(s) of life. It is a call for climate justice, which sees people and the environment as interconnected. From a justice perspective, climate change is political and ethical, the social and the environmental are inextricable. Her work wants us to rebalance; to reconnect with ourselves as part of the natural network of organisms and processes that allow a diversity of life to flourish.
The artist situates herself in a universe in which the natural and the man made are intertwined: we are within the universe and the universe is within us. She elevates the creatures we do not all care for (beetles, rats, snails), and likens the nebula of deep space to the dandelions of our back yards. She connects us to the universe through meditation, through natures cycles of destruction and creation.
The critique we must engage with is this – we have disconnected from our universe. The Universe & me charges us as viewers to remember, to appreciate, and to consider.