ABAANTU - VERNA COLLECTION

The VERNA portraits adorned countless Southern African homes in the 1990s and early 2000s, I’m struck by their profound impact on my life and work as I thinking about it. These mass-produced images of a young Black girl or boy, often paired with a mother and child, and the ceramic dolls  were more than just decor they were a cultural phenomenon, steeped in sentimentality and a quiet celebration of Black identity in a post apartheid era. 

Their kitsch aesthetic, once dismissed, now feels like reclaiming and owning . I’ve sought to honor these portraits while exploring their mystery and meaning. Growing up, I was captivated by the ubiquity of these prints, signed simply “VERNA,” an artist whose identity remains elusive. 

In conversation with my mother, I learned why these images resonated  with her, reflecting familial love and black pride in a time of transformation like post apartheid South Africa. “I love this photo, because its dark and it looks like me” my mother said.The VERNA portraits, with their anonymous creator, tells the stories of artists who go unrecognized in their lifetimes, only to be celebrated later. 

By naming my latest collection VERNA, I’m reclaiming these portraits, transforming their nostalgic charm into a conversation about identity, memory, and value in art. Presenting this at the Milan White Show 2024  during Milan Fashion Week was a bold step to elevate a piece of Southern African popular culture onto a global stage. Now, with the 2025 Autumn-Winter South Africa campaign.