Paintings

A process of deconstruction and reconstruction of my practice developed over the year and is supported by contextual research and deep contemplation of the past through my specific white entitled experience. South Africa’s post-apartheid gated community sets a fabricated scene, and a sense of guilt underpins a complex relationship with a country that is both tantalising and yet too dangerous for me to live in. Collage became a way of rearranging and editing memory. Part-metaphorical for processing memory, using text as image or archive press photographs to refer to politics,  I considered how the weight of memory might translate as a floor bound art object or be suspended as a vanishing trace. Most recently the combination of silkscreen printing with painting creates a sense of the voyeur in a moment glimpsing poolside environments of the gated community.  Politics is implicit in questions like, who has access to this place, who is watching, the proximity of crime over the wall. The ‘poetics of paint’ has been a guiding phrase in every stage of this process, working on a variety of surfaces and in different mediums to adapt the outcome.

 

6e2a4209White Guilt, (2018) oil on canvas, 102 x 166 cmmy mother's privilege, 1950'sMy Mother’s Privilege 1950’s, (2018) acrylic on board, 14 x 14 cmstolenStolen 1960’s, (2018) acrylic on board, 14 x 14 cm6e2a5473Small works on 18 mm board, acrylic, 14 x 14 cmIMG_6850Steve Biko, (2018) acrylic on paper, 51 x 41cm6e2a5474Sihle Shabalala, ex-gangster, (2018) acrylic and Tippex on cardboard, 26 x 35 cmvicarious witness, soweto riots, 16 june 1976Vicarious Witness, Soweto Riots 1976, (2018) oil on linen, 130 x 180 cmchildren of paradise, canoeChildren of Paradise, Canoe, (2019) acrylic on chalk ground, 24 x 24 x 6 cm, shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporarieschildren of paradise, birthday partyChildren of Paradise, Birthday Party, (2019) acrylic on chalk ground, 14 x 14 x 6 cm, shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries  1Politics Disrupts Utopia 1, (2019) 85 x 85 cm, Oil, spray paint acrylic on canvasPolitics Disrupts Utopia 1 (2019) oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 80 x 80 cm Photograph: Juhan Kuus, Riot policemen drag man they shot away from township crowd, 19762-politics-and-memory-2019-1.5-x-2.5-m-mixed-media.jpgPolitics and Memory (2019) 1.5 x 2.5m mixed media3 Pool Chair (2019) Part of big memory on paper work 1.5 x 2.5m mixed mediaPool Chair (2019) Detail, 1.5 x 2.5m, mixed media on Fabriano paper4 Eden Overblown, Gated Community, Acrylic, glitter, collage on canvas, 103 x 103 cmEden Overblown, Gated Community, (2019) acrylic, glitter, collage on canvas, 103 x 103 cmIMG_8179 Agave on the beach, (2019) Acrylic on board 25 x 25cm  One settler. One Bullet. jpgOne Settler. One Bullet. (2019) Acrylic on photographic digital print by Juhan Kuus, White border farmers in the Northern Transvaal, 19855 Milk and Honey, 180 x 200 cm Acrylic, Oil stick, oil pastel, collage on canvasMilk and Honey, (2019) acrylic, oil stick, oil pastel, collage on canvas, 180 x 200 cm Lounger, oil on paper, 30 x 40cmLounger, Sketch, (2019) Oil on paper, 40 x 50 cm Oil Sketch 35 x 45 cm IMG_2394 Lounger, Gated Community, Sketch, (2019) Oil on Fabriano oil paper 35 x 45 cm Gated Community, Higgovale, Cape Town 1 jpgGated Community 1, Higgo Crescent, Cape Town, (2019) Oil and acrylic on primed polyester, 170 x 203cm  IMG_2521Gated Community II, Clifton, Cape Town, (2019) Acrylic, litho crayon and screen print on primed polyester 170 x 203cm