Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Image shows Ben Hymers, as he puts the finishing touches to the tapestry ‘Lively Blue’

The tapestry ‘Lively Blue’ was made with award-winning Scottish Zimbabwean artist Sekai Machache, commissioned by Dovecot for the exhibition. Woven by Ben Hymers, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh. Cotton and linen. 91cm x 131cm.

SEKAI MACHACHE and DOVECOT STUDIOS, Lively Blue, 2023, tapestry
Lively Blue is based on a small ink work created by Zimbabwean-Scottish artist Sekai Machache, and was chosen for its richness and subtlety, and the challenge it poses for the weaver. Machache’s interest in the colour blue came from research into the indigo dye processes used in Mali – there are twelve stages of the dye process, starting with ‘The Blue of Nothingness’ and ending with the deep indigo of ‘The Divine Sky’.
The tapestry will feature in our upcoming Scottish Women Artists Exhibition opening on the 28th July 2023.

‘Sekai Machache is a Zimbabwean-Scottish visual artist and curator based in Glasgow, Scotland. Her work is a deep interrogation of the notion of self, in which photography plays a crucial role in supporting an exploration of the historical and cultural imaginary. Aspects of her photographic practice are formulated through digital studio-based compositions utilising body paint and muted lighting to create images that appear to emerge from darkness.

In recent works she expands to incorporate other media and approaches that can help to evoke that which is invisible and undocumented. She is interested in the relationship between spirituality, dreaming and the role of the artist in disseminating symbolic imagery to provide a space for healing against contexts of colonialism and loss.

Sekai is the recipient of the 2020 RSA Morton Award and is an artist in residence with the Talbot Rice Residency Programme 2021-2023. Sekai works internationally and often collaboratively, for and with her community and is a founding and organising member of the Yon Afro Collective (YAC).’

Picture Phil Wilkinson