Using Naturally Dyed Cotton, Artist Sipho Mabona Explores Transformation through Origami

“A Unicorn’s Lower Jaw & Right Front Leg” (2020), indigo, old fustic, weld and iron on cotton and paper. All images © Sipho Mabona, shared with permission

Sipho Mabona (previously) folds, crimps, and puckers sheets of cotton to form geometric artworks. The artist dyes the porous material with natural substances like indigo and Maclura tinctoria (mulberry), which creates organic gradients and alters its texture. He then utilizes Origami creases to transform the cotton’s structure and shape, sometimes working in response to current affairs. For example, the red pieces (shown below) are a response to Black Lives Matter and “also of biographical significance to me having a father that was a politcal activist and refugee from South Africa.” he shares with Colossal.

While my earlier works have smooth monochromatic surfaces in my latest body of work I felt an urge to introduce a painterly gesture and an element of chance to counterbalance the stringent geometrical appearance of the crease-patterns… Both Origami and natural dyeing are techniques that have rarely been harnessed in fine arts that unlock an intriguing field of unexplored narratives.

Head to Instagram to dive further into Mabona’s folded cotton works.

“The Dragonflies’ Third Leg” (2019), Maclura tinctoria, on folded cotton and paper, 40 x 50 centimeters

Left: “Untitled” (2018), natural aizome, acrylic and molding paste on folded cotton, 132 x 108 centimeters. Right: “Untitled” (2018), natural aizome, acrylic and molding paste on folded cotton, 132 x 108 centimeters

“We Bled, We Are Bleeding, We Will Bleed”

“The Doves’ Wing” (2019), indigo and old fustic, on folded cotton and paper, 40 x 50 centimeters

Left: “The Cicadas’ Abdomen & Thorax” (2019), Madder on folded cotton. Right: “The Dove’s Wing & Shoulder (I1)” (2020), indigo-dyed, cotton, paper, Tyvek, wood, and nylon