Threads of Renewal II: Weaving memory, healing, and future-making
This exhibition explores two interconnected themes — Memory & Ancestry and Healing & Resistance — transforming fabric into a vessel for remembrance, care, and renewal.
Tag: Art
There is soft power in contemporary textile art
Every time I visit the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, I make it my mission to seek out the textile art. In earlier years I had to hunt for these pieces, most of which were woven. More recently, however, I’ve...
How art has become essential to creating a climate-resilient Earth
While tools such as education, policy, and technology are often prioritised in discussions about building a more sustainable world, the potential influence of art in this space can be underestimated. Art has the unique power to evoke emotions, spark conversations...
Textile artist Jana Visser weaves spaces of reflection for Loewe Foundation Craft Prize
The slow, considered process of craft is what Jana Visser loves most about creating textile art. The 2023 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize finalist says that the intricate, time- and labour-intensive process is a means to discovery and reflection. The creative...
Why the world fell in love with artist El Anatsui and his quiet critique of global consumption
The artist El Anatsui was born in Ghana and has spent the bulk of his career in Nigeria, but is a citizen of the world. News of a major new installation of his work coming to the prestigious Tate Modern gallery in London...
13 Young artists demand our attention at the WE ARE CULTURE exhibition
Art is called a universal language. While art has always been a medium for the people, gallery spaces have not. The Standard Bank Gallery, in Johannesburg, aims to turn this notion on its head by opening up the four walls...
Artist Gina van der Ploeg merges touch and textiles with tending to the land
“We wouldn’t have textiles without agriculture,” says Cape Town-based fibre artist and farmer, Gina van der Ploeg, “And what I love about textiles is that everyone has a connection with them.” From the clothing we wear to the textiles that...
Artist Zyma Amien Celebrates the Art of Garment Workers
“Once I was in art school, I looked back and realised that I had been living in a home of artists my whole life,” says Zyma Amien, “we didn’t become artists – we always were artists.” Zyma was 46 years...
Artist Robyn Penn reflects on a warming world
One of the most bewildering aspects of climate change is that, until your house has been burnt down by a runaway fire or until you’ve had to evacuate your city due to a flash flood, it remains an abstract projection,...
Artist Amy Rusch gives time to plastic bags
Three ethereal artworks made from plastic bags are currently on display at SMITH Studio, an art gallery in Cape Town’s city centre. Amy Rusch made the pieces “giving time to plastic bags 1-17” as part of a collaborative group show called Calibrating...
Architect of Change 1: Robert de Jager followed an organic process
It has been said that Goldilocks would find everything in the right place should she choose to visit House Burnett Prinsloo. By any standard that is fine praise for Robert Jager’s build, a finalist for the sustainable AfriSam-SAIA Awards which...
How a love for knitting led to the launch of new knitwear label Wrapt
On the small mezzanine level of a house in Johannesburg, the Wrapt team is busily working at knitting machines. It’s been a few months since they joined Hannelie Bekker’s new knitwear label but already Oupa Nhovela, Anna Setloboko and Felicity...
Damned if we don’t
Wrapped in post-consumer plastic, Rati Lekalakala imagines being an animal in the same situation. This is not much of a stretch of her imagination: high concentrations of plastic materials have been found blocking the airways and stomachs of hundreds of ...
Message in a bottle: Thirza Schaap makes plastic ocean art that is both beautiful and scary
When you walk along the Atlantic coast’s sandy white beaches in Cape Town, it’s easy to be distracted by the startling magnificence of the scenery. The ice blue waves crash down onto beaches and smash into black brown rocks. On...
Hotel review: Spier walks the talk
The Spier Hotel has everything and more you’d expect from a four-star hotel: 153 rooms, conference centres, restaurants, an artists’ studio and expansive gardens… The décor is stylish while not intimidating, and contemporary South African art is displayed throughout the...