A poem. Material research. An object personified on paper.
Through the Atelier, Girl Gone Authentic follows a curiosity about people, materials and the worlds they create. Drawing on cultural research, material knowledge and an instinct for language, the work moves between investigation and expression, uncovering unexpected connections and finding words for the things that make a world particular.
Working with Girl Gone Authentic
I
Tune In
When working with nature’s materials, inherited traditions, and the many expressions of being human, ideas can become tangled between past and present, instinct and intention, and what we inherit and what we hope to make of it. Tune In is an offering of an hour long conversation over virtual tea, for ideas that need untangling and beginnings that need another mind to pull at the threads. Together, we look closer, bringing its central thought into focus and finding a clearer sense of where it might lead.
Writing and Expression
Every piece of work has its own character, and language has a way of bringing it into focus. An eclectic collection calls for words with curiosity and spirit; a place shaped by nature, language that breathes; an object, perhaps, a poem of its own.
Guided by intuition and informed by cultural research and the discipline of strategic writing, Girl Gone Authentic moves between literary and commissioned work, from poems and essays to books, brochures, collection texts and exhibition writing. Following unexpected references and connections, we look for the words that give each work its particular expression and bring its world into view.
III
Research
The stories beneath the surface. Why does a material matter here? What can an object tell us about the people who made it, the place it came from or the time it belongs to? What ideas and influences find their way into a collection?
Girl Gone Authentic investigates the histories, practices and cultural references surrounding the things we make and live with. From archival discoveries and conversations with makers to the study of materials, places and traditions, research follows a subject beyond its familiar outlines, uncovering the details and connections that change how we understand it.
The Atelier is led by Khumoetsile Seamogano.
For commissions and collaborations:
hello@girlgoneauthentic.com
Gathered references worded by
Girl Gone Authentic
They toil and tumble through time. Eloquent in beauty now as they were 700 years ago. Stones thoughtfully selected to arouse sensual intimacy with their owner. See how they blush? They know things.
Korean string beads, ca. 1392-1910. CMA, Korean Art.
Three suns for the boy king.
Nephrite. Lapis. Chalcedony.
A trinity of gods sealed in stone,
bound by gold that remembers every prayer.
Rings from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, Egyptian Museum.
The body remembers. A married Dinka woman traditionally wears incised ivory earrings. The scars on her temple follow the graceful arc of cow horns. They are an elaborate part of culture, a mark of beauty, adulthood, and belonging. Africa Adorned by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher.
We live amongst saints on secret missions.
Mothers and daughters kissed by the moon’s glow.
Portals planted between this world and that beyond the veil.
Madagascar Pierrot Men (2000)
Elegance quietly dresses womanhood.
Womanhood is a song heard by those who have been initiated into the cults of confidence, courage, femininity, quiet strength, bottomless love, echoes of wisdom. Those who are not afraid to live. Those who nourish and birth the beautiful where there was nothing. We the brave.
“Why, Nagla, do you wear earrings and tie blossoms in you hair? Why do you blacken your teeth and paint your forehead?”
The young bachelor laughed. “Because it is what our girls like!”
Visual: Mru people of Bangladesh. National Geographic, 1973.
Sentimental value.
Common everyday objects that in time will be valuable collectables on display at the highest bidder’s home. In a way, so long as their story is not sensationalised to fit a certain gaze, the thought is not as unsettling as i initially thought it would be. That is afterall how stories of a people transcend time.
Mortar in-situ, Botswana, Khumoetsile Seamogano
Bamboo tales.
“Bamboo vests were worn to allow for ventilation beneath the thick and heavily embroidered wedding garments. As wedding robes were often made from delicate silk, bamboo vests would have prevented sweat stains and fabric damage.”
An old bamboo vest from China, found in Indonesia (1930 – 1940). Perenakan Museum.