In Mother. Monster. Stitch., the family portrait misbehaves.

South African artist Hannalie Taute pierces and re-stitches the rituals of womanhood weddings, motherhood, composure turning them into something raw, playful, and grotesque. Working with discarded rubber, thread, and vintage photographs, Taute rewrites domestic mythologies one puncture at a time.

Curated by Karolien van Zyl, the exhibition approaches the monstrous feminine not as fear, but as vitality a language of humour, defiance, and becoming.

“Taute’s women pose for the camera while the thread quietly unravels them,” notes curator Karolien van Zyl. “What we call monstrous might simply be the truth showing through.” Taute’s unsettling humour is inseparable from her material logic. Embroidery becomes resistance a physical rhythm that reclaims the handmade as thought. Each work enacts a small, tactile rebellion.

Mother. Monster. Stitch. reimagines the monstrous feminine not as fear, but as vitality a language of becoming that insists on the power of imperfection. In a world increasingly mediated by code and control, Taute reasserts the slow intelligence of the hand. Each piece reminds us that repair, like survival, is never complete. It reveals the power of imperfection and the slow intelligence of the handmade a reminder that repair is always in motion.