Sailing past Mosselbay in 1497, the Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama saw so much smoke eminating from the coast of the Cape that he called it Terra de Fume, Earth of Smoke. What he probably observed were pastoralists, already inhabiting the Cape, burning vegetation to improve grazing for their live-stock. Much of fynbos is dependent on periodic fire for sprouting and flowering. One such fynbos species is a member of the proteaceae family, the Blushing Bride or Serruria Florida. At first glance, laboriously carving a Blushing Bride from wood and then subjecting it to fire speaks of a familiar renewal quality that we associate with funbos fires. In keeping with concerns of other of my works, the remainder of the block of wood from which the Blushing Bride was carved also forms an integral part of this work. The splinters and fragments were collected and similarly exposed to fire and transformed into charcoal. These fragments, which fill the bottom half of the box frame, are a metaphor for the work done, the process and the residue of labour or activity, and also the negative mass of the craved Blushing Bride. In process, Terra de Fume speaks of bathos and futility in the labour intensive activity which then in an instant is reduced to nothingness. However Terra de Fume explores two aspects: renewal as well as what sometimes feels like bathos, as small but decisive moments returns everything back to its formless origin. This work was conceived before the death of my father and has since achieved further personal ( the Blushing Bride was used in my parents wedding bouquet and the height of the frame is equal to my father’s height) and metaphoric significance in regarding time and energy spent and the inevitable return to dust.