AN INTERVIEW WITH SENZELW’UMUSA MATHE – PORTRAIT AWARD TOP 40 FINALIST

November 2025

Your Portrait Award 2025 entry, Bazali Bami, beautifully reflects your parents’ love and care through crochet. Can you tell us more about how the concept came to life and why this story was important to tell?

I am fortunate to have grown up with two parents who poured immense love, patience, and intention into raising me. When I began thinking about the piece I wanted to submit for the Portrait Award and who I wanted to represent, I naturally returned to them. At the same time, I found myself reflecting on the medium itself. Crochet, especially tapestry crochet, is a slow and demanding process that depends on care, precision, and countless deliberate actions.

As I thought more deeply about this medium, I realised that there is a clear parallel between building something slowly, stitch by stitch, and the process of raising a child. Both require consistency, dedication, and care. This reflection made me think of my parents. The love they gave me is something I could never truly repay. Instead, I became interested in how to honour it. Choosing tapestry crochet felt like the most sincere way to express that gratitude.

Creating this portrait became an act of acknowledgement. Just as the work takes form through patience and perseverance, my upbringing took shape through their devotion and sacrifice. The final piece is my way of holding their love with intention and offering it back in the language I know best. It is something carefully made, something built over time and something stitched with meaning.

Crochet has been passed down through generations in your family, and your work honours that lineage. How do you balance tradition and contemporary expression in your pieces?

I believe the balance comes from using a traditional technique whilst reimagining its possibilities and drawing inspiration from contemporary sources. The traditional aspect is rooted in the tapestry crochet practice passed down through generations in my family, and the contemporary aspect emerges through the influences I draw from fashion, graphic design, other artworks, and a wide range of current creative sources. Many of my pieces sit at the intersection of art and fashion, becoming wearable art, which has allowed me to push the medium forward while still remaining grounded in heritage.

How does your architectural background influence the way you approach fibre art—structurally, conceptually, or in the way you “construct” your pieces?

My approach to crochet mirrors the architectural process in being meticulous, iterative, and research-driven. In both fields I explore multiple options, experiment, test, and refine until the composition works. There is a critical eye involved in considering what works, what could be done differently, and how the piece sits conceptually. Structurally, tapestry crochet leaves little margin for error. A single off stitch can drastically affect the final result, just as a minor error in technical drawings can in architecture. The discipline and patience required in both practices inform the precision and depth of my work.

Beyond precision and composition, I am drawn to the relationship between beauty and function. Like architecture, which balances aesthetics with purpose, many of my wearable and other pieces consider both how they look and how they interact with the body or engage the viewer.

Being named a Top 40 finalist is a huge recognition. Has this experience inspired new ideas, techniques, or directions in your work?

This recognition has been incredibly validating, particularly after a period of having my work questioned as to whether it belongs in the realm of fine art. It has motivated me to continue experimenting, to embrace the fear that comes with taking risks, and to explore uncharted directions in fibre art while weaving in my unique perspective.

Your work challenges perceptions of crochet as a craft rather than art. Looking forward, how do you hope STUDIOSENZI continues to reshape conversations around fibre art and female creativity?

With STUDIOSENZI, I aim to continue pushing the boundaries of fibre art by creating work that highlights its technical skill, storytelling potential, and conceptual depth. Crochet is a historically feminine discipline, and its impact has often been downplayed, with perceptions of it remaining narrow. Through my practice, I hope to reshape these conversations by exploring layered aspects of the human experience, particularly those connected to women, care, and creativity.

I also see exciting opportunities to integrate my background in architecture by exploring how fibre art can manifest spatially. In the long term, I would like to create larger works that viewers can engage with and experience more immersively, while continuing to explore smaller-scale pieces that exist both as wearable art and as intricate, thoughtful creations. Across all of this, my goal is to advocate for women, elevate the medium, and challenge perceptions, showing that fibre art can be a serious, expressive, and contemporary form of artistic practice.

Thank you once again for the opportunity to be featured on the website blog!

You can find more of Senzi on her Instagram, her TikTok, and her Website.