Aesthete Cognizance

Talia Ramkilawan (b. 1996, Cape Town) is one of South Africa’s most compelling emerging contemporary artists, whose practice uses  textile-based techniques, particularly rug-hooking, to explore identity, culture, community, trauma, intimacy, and healing . Moving beyond conventional materials and modes of representation, Ramkilawan has developed a distinctive visual language that combines labour-intensive craft with conceptual depth, embedding personal narratives within broader socio-historical contexts. Her work positions softness as strength, pleasure as resistance, and community as a space of resilience in the face of inherited traumas of displacement, cultural negotiation, and the constraints of post-apartheid identities.  This essay argues that Ramkilawan’s art not only expands the field of contemporary South African art, frequently dominated by painting and installation, but also re-centres textile work as a site of political, cultural, and emotional engagement. Her tapes...

Taste is often treated as something personal and natural, as if it appears fully formed. We talk about it casually:  I just like it ,  it speaks to me ,  it feels right . But taste is never neutral. It is built slowly, shaped by what we are exposed to, the cultural spaces we move through, and the choices we make repeatedly. In collecting, taste becomes visible. It leaves a trail. What we collect is not only a reflection of what we admire. It is also a declaration of what we choose to support, protect, and stand behind. Over time, these decisions accumulate. They form a point of view. A collection, whether modest or extensive, becomes a record of attention and belief. The sociologist Pierre Bourdieu was one of the first to clearly articulate that taste is social before it is individual. In  Distinction  (1979), he argued that taste is shaped by education, class, and access, and that what is labelled “good taste” often mirrors the preferences of those in power. In...

Books alter a room before they are ever opened. Their presence shifts the atmosphere in ways that are difficult to quantify but easy to sense. A room with books feels quieter without being empty, fuller without feeling crowded. Something slows down. This change has little to do with colour or material. It has more to do with implication. Books suggest time, attention, and inwardness. They introduce a different pace into a space, one that resists urgency. Books as Signals of Pause A room without books often feels transitional. It suggests movement through rather than staying with. Books interrupt this momentum. Even closed, they imply the possibility of stopping. Of sitting. Of lingering long enough to follow a thought to its end. This implication alone alters how people behave in the space. Chairs feel more intentional near books. Light becomes more critical. The room subtly reorganises around the idea of pause. Why Books Create Psychological Warmth Warmth in interiors is usually attri...