Winding Back II

Medium: Monotype
Paper size: 57.5 x 77 cm
Image size: 50.5 x 70 cm
Edition size: 1/1

Maria Marais is an artist who lives and works in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. Born in Eswatini to Portuguese parents, her family relocated to the Lowveld in 1965. Marais writes "Having grown up in a family that didn't travel, after marrying, roads and road trips offered the discovery of new places not only physically, but also emotionally. 

Living away from the Lowveld with the ever present desire to return, Sabie was home away from home for many years.  The forestry roads leading to and from that town became deeply embedded in my psyche.  The road, depicted in these prints now leads me back home, to the Lowveld."

In these monotypes, she explores the spaces between being at home and being at one's destination. It is the liminal space between being certain and uncertain, the space that allows the delight of the unexpected to slip into an understanding of where one is on the journey. What remains after a perfect day, the feeling of leaving, but simultaneously returning or arriving.