This work has been kindly donated by the artist

Although Micha Serraf’s practice is rooted in photography,൩ his expanded work takes inspiration from techniques relating to his paternal Moroccan heritage. Through his work, Serraf processes the trauma of his family’s migration from Zimbabwe to South Africa, probing imagined memories in pursuit of identity and a place to call home.

The design of If we do not dream, we cannot rest (2022) is loosely inspired by the geometry of Moroccan Azemmour embroidery, a specific type of embroidery that was created by the Moroccan Jews whose ancestors, like the artist’s,꧙ fled the Spanish Inquisition. The work is inspired by a poem Serraf’s father had once translated for him which described a sky so flat that it felt as though not even life itself could ripple it. This piece reflects this sentiment by depicting a sky that is rippled by life and a swimming pool extending beyond the flatness of reality. A black cloud is merely a d🍸istant island. The overall feeling invoked is one of nostalgia towards the seemingly unfamiliar.