Sitaara Stodel is a Cape Town-based contemporary artist working across media of photography, collage, video, and printmaking. Stodel discusses mental health issues through the concepts of belonging and nostalgia. For the artist, changing houses was a constant event throughout her life; she recalls moving a total of forty times. During childhood, Stodel, her sister, and mother moved into properties which they could not afford, which resulted in regular evictions, and the habit of constantly changing address has continued into her adult life.

This unusual state of being finds expression within the artist’s work. Her pieces are created using other people’s family photographs that she collects at antique stores and markets. Through her work, Stodel curates her own memories of childhood and beyond using scenes of interiors and exteriors of houses, pets, prized home possessions, and landscapes.

In her collages, Stodel is constantly tearing, cutting and putting back together these domestic scenes in an attempt to remake these recollections of the past, putting these artefacts back together using gold thread to represent the preciousness of memory. The artist also captures her own ideals of home into these scenes: fresh flowers, framed artworks, houses with sea views and shiny cars.

A stable home is a privilege too often given for granted, and the lack of it can result in significant vulnerability and in the potential aggravation of mental disorders. Stodel's artwork thus becomes an outlet to mend feelings of uprootedness and instability.