Vanessa Tembane is a South African-born artist of Mozambican heritage. Existing in the Shadow integrates collage processes with print-making techniques to address the artist’s sensations of loss of her Mozambican family after her mother’s migration to South Africa. The collaged images merge childhood photographs taken in South Africa with photos and fabrics given to Tembane by her Mozambican relatives. In the creation of these hybridized composites, Tembane places herself directly in imagined memories. As Tembane describes: “While my mother’s past was not my own, the photographs from her home community enable me to almost feel as if I have experienced my mother’s sense of loss of her place of birth and markers of her Mozambican identity.” The photographs become the artist’s means of telling stories about her own origins and cultural identity, and reflecting upon the nature of home, memory, and belonging. The exhibition opens Oct 1, 2021 and will be viewable at https://go.unc.edu/ExistingInTheShadow

As part of the online exhibition, Existing in the Shadow, South African artist Vanessa Tembane will engage in a zoom conversation with UNC Professor Tanya Shields (Women’s and Gender Studies) to discuss her work on Oct. 28 at 4:30 PM. Please register for the talk at https://go.unc.edu/shadowdialogue.