BOEMO DIALE - GOING HOME

When I speak of the spiritual, I refer to the recognition within everyone that there is a place of mystery in our lives where forces that are beyond human desire or will alter circumstances and/or guide and direct us. I call these forces divine spirit. When we choose to lead a spirit-filled life, we recognise and celebrate the presence of transcendent spirits.” – Bell Hooks, “All about Love: New Visions”

Boemo Diale’s artistic practice is deeply rooted in the exploration of internal worlds, guided by a devotion to spirituality and personal histories.

Inspired by Hooks’ seminal work, ‘All About Love: New Visions,’ Diale’s works delve into the themes of completion and healing within a personalised framework shaped by the concepts of prayer and hope. This intuitive and reflective process prompts Diale to contemplate her relationship with self-love, self-worthiness, and worship.

Going Home features a series of bright and bold unique works on paper, wood-carved frames and ceramics. Diale is able to introduce representations from her personal family archive into the whimsical interior scenes, creating a type of push-and-pull between the artist’s reality and her envisaged world. These central compositions exist within a frame that signify various motifs within the artist’s thematics, often symbols of spirituality, femininity and freedom. The power of prayer through colourful expressions; the idea of a cyclic loop through generations - history and human experiences are not linear, but rather circular, with events and circumstances echoing themselves over time. Within this body of work, Boemo Diale captures the notion that certain patterns, behaviours, or characteristics tend to repeat or resurface across different generations.

Each image acts as self-reflection with consideration to the past, present and future, dreams and manifestations. Through vibrant hues and compositions, Diale aims to create visual narratives that evoke a sense of spirituality and transcendence by meddling in bizarre imagery, San rock art, African symbols of devotion and intuitive mark-making. The attention given to each visual element becomes a form of devotion - an act of reverence that captures the essence of prayer. Serving as a vessel to carry these prayers and meanings, the utilitarian pot is a motif rendered in warm and cool

tones, combining metaphors to represent the interplay between introspection and connection.

Colours are layered and intertwined, creating depth and movement, symbolising the fluidity of prayer as it weaves through our lives. Through these variations of metaphor in practice, Diale considers if it is possible to break the curses that play on a loop across generations. She suggests that prayer transcends religious boundaries - re-contextualising it as a way to navigate through universal longing for meaning. By using her practice as a mode of mimicking, Diale has created a form of personal devotion; an expression of vulnerability, hope, and gratitude and protection, bordered by prayer.

• Wood carvings in collaboration with Rabson Bwalya