She Weaves White Gold (work of art)
Artwork Info
Key Ideas
- Malaika Temba is a Tanzanian and American artist based in New York. Her work is influenced by her experiences growing up in Saudi Arabia, Uganda, South Africa, Morocco, and the United States.
- This work uses fiber from sisal, a plant that is native to southern Mexico. In the late 1800s, it was introduced to Tanzania by German colonizers.
- She Weaves White Gold explores the journey of sisal from a crop to a product sold at the market as well as the labor of the people involved in its production.
- The Tanzanian nickname for sisal is white gold.
Learn More
Malaika Temba is a Tanzanian and American visual artist. Her textile works are woven, knit, embroidered, and silk-screened, then colored with paint, chalk, pastels, dyes, and inks. Temba grew up living across Saudi Arabia, Uganda, South Africa, Morocco, and the United States. Her creative processes embrace globalization and intercultural connection.
Growing up moving so much between countries taught me to carry home in myself and in my family. I’m always comparing, contrasting, and noticing the textures of different lives. My work reflects the places that I come from and honors those who have labored—not just to personally get me here, but also those whose labor sustains the world at large.
Malaika Temba
Temba creates textile works that honor the African diaspora’s “aunties and femmes” (caregivers, in this context). Her work explores the physical and emotional labor expected of these laborers and caregivers. She uses fabric, a material often associated with softness, and transforms it into something strong and resilient. She weaves the jacquard fabric in rectangles, then unravels the fringe around her images to achieve her desired shape. Once she unravels the fringe, she paints it to add color and to reinforce the work.
I’m really interested in labor—physical, emotional, intellectual. Most of my scenes are set in Tanzania, where my family is from, and they often depict women at work. Because in so many ways, women are the backbone of labor there.
Malaika Temba
She Weaves White Gold was created using jacquard-woven fabric and acrylic paint. This installation incorporates wallpaper, fringe embellishment, and three jacquard-woven textile works. The title of this installation comes from the Tanzanian nickname for sisal, which is “white gold.” Sisal is a material used in this textile work, and it is also the subject. Sisal is a fibrous plant that is native to southern Mexico. It was brought to Tanzania from Mexico by German colonizers in the late-19th century. Sisal is deeply embedded in Tanzanian life and culture. This work traces sisal’s journey from a farmed crop to a market product. This installation depicts the communities shaped by sisal’s cultivation and demonstrates its role as a form of material culture.
Additional Resources
Resources for Teachers
- Read a biography about Malaika Temba.
- Read a transcript from an interview with the artist.
Resources for Students
- Watch a short video about this work of art.
- View more works by Temba on her website.
Images
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She Weaves White Gold