Strauss & co - 17 February 2018, Cape Town

180 Strauss & co contemporary art auction Consisting of eight cobs of heirloom mielie adhered to a recycled hessian sack, Mi Throw Mi Corn Neva Call Nuh Fowl derives its title from Jamaican patois that loosely translates as ‘My actions speak louder than words’. Heirloom mielies are a wilder variety of maize that is harder to grow than its commercial cousin which is the staple food source throughout much of Southern Africa. Known in North America as ‘Indian Corn’ and harvested for decorative purposes, some of these cobs were procured in Kalamazoo, Michigan, whilst others were grown in Johannesburg by Oliver Barnett over a period of four years. On the surface this work reads as a self- referential statement about corn, seeds and sustenance whilst on the otherhand there is a deeper point where the materials resonate with the context of their symbolic history. 64 Dan Halter & Oliver Barnett ZIMBABWEAN 20TH CENTURY Mi Throw Mi Corn Neva Call Nuh Fowl 2017 heirloom meilies and hessian 96 by 66cm R80 000 – 100 000 EXHIBITED cf. Whatiftheworld, Cape Town, ‘Negative Space’ , 10 December - 10 March, 2017, where two similar examples titled They Tried to Bury Us, They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds and Many Mielies Don’t Make Sadza were exhibited.