Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s practice encompasses drawing, painting, installation and animation to explore mythology, geology and theories on the nature of the universe. Sunstrum creates narrative landscapes that simultaneously appear futuristic and ancient, shifting between representational and fantastical depictions of volcanic, subterranean, cosmological and precipitous landscapes The Dream II (mae)(2023) pictures a double portrait of the artist’s alter ego Asme, who has become a constant figure in her work - representing a testing ground for ideas, in the absence of representation of the black female body in art history. The double figure in the painting are each depicted cradling eggs in the palms of their hands. The rich symbology of the egg - speaking to fertility and unhatched potential here ascribes a powerful sense of what might come. Suggesting then, in The Dream II, the artist desires for the visibility of women of colour as well as a profound sense of potential.
