DECOREX CAPE TOWN 2025

During the four days of Decorex I showcased images I had taken while living in Papua New Guinea for three years. A huge part of the collection were images taken during the Annual Goroka Festival. Where different Sing-sing groups, from all over Papua New Guinea, gather to share in the beauty of their culture through music and dance.

For this exhibition, I decided to paint the backdrop a dark green to represent the lushness of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. I would describe the land as being so fertile that you could drop a seed anywhere and it would sprout without any resistance.

Portraits from the Land of the Unexpected

I had been living in Papua New Guinea for two years, when I was finally able to attend the annual Goroka Festival. During the festival, I can’t tell how many times my jaw dropped because of the immense creativity I was witnessing. What blew me away was the use of nature, to create the most beautiful works of art. It made me realise the infinite creativity that human beings hold within and how true connection to nature can make you see it's boundless possibilities.

 

What came to me was the thought “we create as a form of expression, it inspires and then wakes something up, in us”. That to me, that is one of the main purposes of our outer differences. It is not to separate but to connect. To see the possibilities of what lies within. What has always been there.

 

The Papua New Guinea portrait collection adds to my work which revolves around the fact that we are all the same therefore are connected. We have abilities to create through sound, colour, movement, touch and then concurrently connect with what we are hearing, seeing, touching and feeling. The connection, is the stir within, a remembering and then a knowing.

 

At first glance when you look at the portraits, you may focus on the differences, how they look, adorn themselves and live in a live in a foreign land. The differences were not created as a means of separation. My belief and hope, after admiring the beauty, is you are able to say “I see me in you therefore I can”. The purpose of life is to lift up a human being by seeing what another human being is capable of. The belief system that because their outer appearance is different from me therefore their entire being is different, is the barrier that stops us from learning and growing. Not one tribe, people, country, you name it, can have all the answers. It’s impossible! It is from what we create and how we express ourselves that we can be inspired, to learn and finally remember who we truly are.

 

I am and will forever be inspired by how Papua New Guineans used their creative abilities. How they used what nature has to offer, its colours, texture, shapes and transformed it by moulding, crimping, lathering, layering and intertwining it, to create masterpieces. It honestly brings me to tears because I saw and felt what is possible.

The images against the dark green background showcased the beauty and culture that I was fortunate to witness when I was there. During the show, I can’t tell how many times my jaw dropped because of the immense creativity I was witnessing. What blew me away was the use of nature, to create the most beautiful works of art. It made me realise the immense creativity that human beings hold. How true connection to nature can make you see the boundless possibilities that it holds. I mean I am obsessed with people, culture and nature . Papua New Guinea was all of that on steroids.

You know what I have learnt from travelling, meeting different people and seeing what humans create, is that we are meant to be inspired by each other. We create to inspire, we create in order to wake something up in the next person. That is to me the only true purpose of our outer differences. It is not to separate but to connect.

Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying colorful photographs of indigenous Papua New Guineans in traditional attire, some in black and white, wt and a basket with printed images.
Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying colorful photographs of indigenous Papua New Guineans in traditional attire and faces beautifully painted.
Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying a black and white photograph of an indigenous Papua New Guinean man from Tari wearing traditional feathered wig, neck beads, and earrings.
Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying two colorful framed photographs of indigenous Papua New Guineans dressed in traditional attire with face paint, feathers, and jewellery
Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying framed photographs, one portrait of a person with face paint and elaborate jewellery, and a black-and-white portrait of a woman wearing feathered headdress.
Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying photographs of indigenous Papua New Guineans alongside a side table holding a vase of mixed flowers including white lilies, orange blooms, and eucalyptus,
Art exhibit by SIphuma and Co at Decorex Cape Town 2025, with a dark green wall displaying photographs of indigenous Papua New Guineans with painted bodies, and a bouquet of orange and white flowers in the foreground.