Mother Tongue Gallery
Mother tongue 2006 , (41 pieces 40 x 29 cm each) Installation, Lino print on textile with embroidery and sound/voice by Steve and Refiloe Dyer The work 'Mother tongue' was made in response to my first visit to Maputo in April 2006. I heard Portuguese spoken everywhere around me. The silence of the many mother tongues of Mozambique that associate each person with a particular tribe and culture intrigued me. I was given a beautiful poster of a Makonde mask to take home with me to remind me of the rich cultural heritage of Mozambique. When I returned to Gaborone after the trip, I made a linocut of a Makonde mask and printed an image for every mother tongue I could find named, 41 in all. I printed the mask onto 41 different pieces of wax-print and stitched the name of a different mother tongue onto each piece.
