Chrina Van Staden

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Onder Draai Die Duiwel Rond (Underneath Roams The Devil)

Underneath roams my Devil, born from the unspoken, the unseen, and the unknown. From the ocean’s mysterious depths emerges a summoned creature. A dress for my Devil. A container of the intangible and the internal psychological body. Disquietude is summoned from its depths and inescapably confronted. My work explores themes of gender, veiling, language, culture, and self. The first anchoring point of my work is an Afrikaans idiom:

Stille Waters diepe grond, onder draai die Duiwel rond.

[Still Waters run deep, and that is where the Devil roams]

This idiom speaks to the hidden psychological depths beneath the Stille waters. It refers to the mysterious and unknown, to where the Devil roams underneath. The Stille Waters idiom inspired me to think about the Devil as the Devil within me. My Devil. My work then is a self-portrait of sorts. My Devil is not purely undesirable. She is a protector, a gendered expression of what is deemed deplorable. My grandfather translated Dante’s Inferno into Afrikaans in Dante se mistieke reis (2013). This book is essential to understanding my work as it is a personal link to my family and my experience. I compare my journey to that of Dante’s, a journey inward. Dante goes on a journey downward into Hell, into his subconscious that is endless and deep and filled with Horrors. In the final, ninth circle of Hell, Dante reaches Cocytus, a frozen lake with traitors and the biggest traitor of all, the Devil himself, with three heads, frozen in the deepest part of Hell. My work manifests, in part, as an impossible garment. An internal, psychological dress that summons the Devil. It holds the presence of the Devil even though he is absent. This white dress has three collars to accommodate the Devil’s three heads. The white sheerness of the fabric refers to a veil, which offers both partial access and concealment. Veiling explores the tension between being seen and unseen, revealing and concealing myself.

My mother taught me to sew, as her mother did, and her mother before that. The stitch binds these generations together. The needle is simultaneously a symbol of piercing violence and a manner of mending. This binding ritual heals and joins two parts. Another manifestation of my work is ice. Ice keystones act as weights, holding the dress up on a pulley system. A keystone is a wedge-shaped stone in classical Roman arches. It bears the weight of the structure and without which the arch would collapse. This symbolises my expected (and failed) role in my family as the keystone that holds everyone together peacefully. I am both coming to terms with this role and seeking to escape it. Embracing the still water and also confronting its currents. They hold the dress up precariously while melting, threatening to cause collapse. Dante’s Inferno was a veiled guide holding my hand as I descended into Hell. This voyage into the subconscious, the metaphors, and the myths that imitate reality has provided a path for me to go inward and unpick threads intrinsic to the fabric of my identity. Our inner Devil is our ally. Our shadow protector has to be summoned to bear her savage teeth against the expectations that bear down on us.