Unu
Pronounced ‘oo’ as in book, ‘oo-noo’.

I have a memory from my childhood with my mother. She would break the branch off a particular tree and she would wrap the branch in a wire basket. She would set fire to the branch in the wire basket, then hang it on the tree. I can remember that she would spread some bark below the burning branch, to catch the ash as it fall. The ash would then be collected and it was used to add flavour to her bush tobacco. Many of our older people who use bush tobacco would have two small tins, one full of the green tobacco plant leaves and the other full of the ash. When they wanted to chew the tobacco, they would mix the green tobacco with the ash to make it taste better.

This experience from Trephina’s childhood is captured in her work ‘Unu’.

Artwork: Unu (2010)
Canvas Size: 84 cm x 114 cm
Canvas: Acrylic on canvas

Code: T-UNU.TS