James Delaney has created several art installations from Fashion Week collaborative garments and backdrops, tributes to Nelson Mandela made from thousands of cups of coffee in public spaces, a fabric tree recreation of a baobab lithograph, and a wire tree installation.
Part 1 – The Quiet Years 2014 – June 2017 I first visited The Wilds in 2014, despite having lived right next to it for several years. My back windows face the park, but it was so dark and overgrown one couldn’t see in. People in my area regarded it as an extremely dangerous place…
Installation using archival images of Victorian Johannesburg, housed in a room in the historic Cosmopolitan Hotel, looking onto Johannesburg’s first street. The Cosmopolitan was once one of the city’s best hotels, but in later years was a brothel, before its current use as art gallery and studio spaces. Joburg was famous for its gold rush, drawing fortune seekers…
Recreating one of the baobab lithographs on the exhibition in the gallery alongside this open space, by reinterpreting one of Johannesburg’s ubiquitous eucalyptus trees with large panels of fabric. The artist worked with Alex Nxumalo to install the piece. The fabric was given to charity afterwards.
The Sustaining Tree installation was created from wire around the trunk of a dead sapling, with leaves of recycled paper containing seeds.
Following on from the first installation, this was twice the size – building Nelson Mandela’s birthday portrait from 5000 cups of coffee, but this time on the square in front of the South African Constitutional Court, Johannesburg. Again, 4 shades were used by mixing different amounts of coffee and milk, and this time visitors were encouraged…
Building a portrait of Nelson Mandela for his birthday from 2700 cups of coffee, below his statue at Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton. The installation used 4 shades, by mixing different amounts of coffee and milk. Watch the Video
A collaboration with Craig Jacobs of sustainable fashion label Fundudzi, applying the acacia trees of line paintings to dresses and the stage during SA Fashion Week Johannesburg.