Stage 6 Day/Night Cycle

I manufactured this piece in the middle of Stage 6 loadshedding. It embodies the frustrations we face when there are entire sections of the day that the power just goes, leading to dark, starlit streets at night, and whole chunks of productive daytime lost to the greyness of office building interiors, when your screen goes blank and you are forced to stop what you are doing.

The day starts at midnight with electrical light illuminating the lives of those catching up on work missed the previous day, then at 02h00 abruptly transitions into a period of forced, pre-dawn stargazing à la Eskom. The power is restored at 04h30 just as the world wakes up and dawn creeps over the horizon, only to be shut off again in the late morning at 10h00. The power is restored at 14h30 and you can finally get a few things done before you must race home as dusk settles on the landscape, trying to fit all your cooking in and get your kids fed, bathed and in bed before the power is cut again at 20h00 only coming back on at 22h30, when you get to spend most of the rest of the night trying to catch up what you missed during the day.

This piece forms part of the body of work I produced for my Post Graduate Diploma obtained in 2024 in which I explored shared experiences of life as a South African that bind us together as a people. It was woven using glass beads and fitted with a solid sterling silver connector piece set with an oval cabochon onyx. This piece is designed to be worn with the onyx sitting at the back of the neck as a counterbalance.