Mourning Star

"I was born in the state of emergency (conceived in the city)/he was born in a water bath (conceived of in the suburbs)/will my son know his brown mother's brown mother?"

"From the time taariq was classified 'boy' in my womb I was petrified at how I was going to love and raise a man. When I so violently hate patriarchy; when this means I am cautious at best around men."

Natasha Thandiwe Vally is based in South Africa. She is the daughter of a strong brown woman anti-apartheid and feminist activist. She is a mother, an activist, and a doctor (PhD) based at the University of the Western Cape. She primarily makes artwork for political posters but is trying to draw for other reasons too. Together with her partner, they are celebrating the first year of mothering their child Taariq in the most tender and radical ways they can.