Cape Town-born and raised, Sahlah Davids has described her methods of creation as the product of the blended learning and trades of the Cape Muslim community, specifically the elders within her family. It is within the domestic, traditional, and religious spaces that Davids draws on the skills of her lineage, the history of their struggles and the embodiment of their spirituality.
Her series ‘Pierced’ becomes an extension of her lived experience of growing up with a paternal grandfather who was a tailor and a maternal grandmother who is a seamstress. In relation to the history of slavery in the Cape, many Muslim slaves were skilled artisans who transferred their skills from one generation to the next. She views this aesthetic as both a connection to her family history as well as the religio-political lineage present in the Cape. The body of work places the viewer amid discussion, dispute, prayer, debate, ritual, a fight for freedom, cries of joy and sadness, dhikr, a march in solidarity, and lulled recitation.
Sahlah Davids
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