Undulation III
Undulation III is a continuation of core thematics in my work including concepts of monumentality, fragments, and ruins. Created from soil, cement, water and steel, this inchoate form oscillates between recognizable imagery and an inert, amorphous monumental mass, grappling with notions of permanence and impermanence, strength and vulnerability.
“The Latin word "humus" means "earth" or "ground," and is the root of the word "human". This connection highlights the idea that humans are fundamentally connected to the earth, both in origin and in our physical makeup, as we are composed of elements found in the soil and ultimately return to the earth. The term "humus" also refers to a component of soil, specifically the dark, organic matter formed from decaying plant and animal matter”.
Working with local materials—sand, water, soil, cement, and steel—I reflect on the material complexities embedded in this work. Concrete presents a paradox: it provides essential solutions for our built environment while simultaneously creating problems for the natural world. Ubiquitous and impervious, it resists breakdown. This tension between the built and natural worlds represents a precarious balance I seek to embrace in this work.
The processes involved with making this work are slow and arduous. Hand made by myself, these industrial materials are harsh and resistant. At the same time, they require gentle nuances and lend themselves to elastic and malleable forms. Bringing sand, water and cement together is an intimate process for me. This work is an autobiographical narrative about my tenuous, fragile relationship with the desire for solidity and permanence and the acknowledgment of the impermanent, unfixed and temporal quality of all things.
Ledelle Moe (ZA)
Ledelle Moe was born in Durban, South Africa in 1971. She studied sculpture there at Technikon Natal and graduated in 1993. Active in the local art community, Moe was one of the founding members of the FLAT Gallery, an artist initiative and alternative space in Durban. A travel grant in 1994 took her to the United States where she embarked on a period of study at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Sculpture Department Master’s program. She completed her Master’s Degree there in 1996 and soon after accepted an adjunct position in the Sculpture Department at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland. Later she taught at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington, DC, Virginia Commonwealth University and St.Mary’s College of Maryland. Moe has exhibited in a number of venues including the Kulturhuset (Stockholm, Sweden) the NSA Gallery (Durban, South Africa), the International Sculpture Center (Washington, DC), The Washington Project for the Arts (Washington, DC) and American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY. In 2002 Moe was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Award and in 2008 Kreeger Museum Artist Award. Throughout this time Moe remained strongly connected to South Africa, returning to visit annually. In 2013 she has returned to live and work in South Africa and teach at Stellenbosch University. Projects include large-scale installations at the African Museum of Art in Washington DC, Biennale Internationale D’Art, Martinique, Perez Museum, Miami, Semaphore Gallery in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Biennale De Dakar, Dakar, Senegal, MASS MoCA, Massachusetts, USA, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, CONGO Biennale in Kinshasa, the Omachi Triennale, Japan and Javett Center, Pretoria.
