Women From South Africa

"“In the textbooks, there was traditional and primitive African art, nothing contemporary, or in the context of advertising or digitisation.”"

"“What we were learning was catered to more of a Western narrative, and we weren’t really seeing an African narrative being taught or explored, or even encouraged,”"

"“I came from a traditional art background, and seeing people use technology to tell stories really captivated me.”"

"“I was blown away by how people were creating digital art with all this software I’d never heard of, and communicating just using their art,”"

"To ensure that her work has a minimal impact on the environment Carolyn’s work involves the collection and reclamation of spent paint from painters – ranging from international artists to local contract painters. She removes the leftover paint from tins or cans and uses this paint to create her masterpieces such as Threshold and Transcodes featured in this Blog post. She even uses the hardened bits of nail varnish."

"“My goal is to always look intensely at the impact of what I do in my life, where something I use comes from, what it really is, and where it’s going.”"

"“I see my work as breaking down something unusable in order to build it up in the form of an artwork which ideally will be kept indefinitely.”"

"“Often I find that artists have an attachment to their old paint tubes, Marlene Dumas for example kept her tubes since she was a student.”"

"We need to dream of a South Africa that embraces its urban ambition. I hope architects, designers, and government officials will collaborate and seize opportunities to redefine cities with creativity and purpose."

"Grobler' work often incorporates traditional craft techniques such as beadwork and she has collaborated with The Quebeka Bead Studio to produce beaded works."

"She has participated in close to a hundred group shows both in South Africa and abroad - in Italy, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, Spain, the United States and Finland. She attended residencies and workshops in the US, Norway, Finland and Switzerland."

"Her work resides in many notable collections including the Jeanetta Blignaut Art Consultancy Collection."

""Jeanne Hoffman and Liza Grobler have collaborated on a number of projects over the past five years – all of these have been visual reactions to so-called “development” and “progress”."

"'Waste at Work combines social awareness, environmental concerns, cultural diversity and visual art in a single project that reflects the heterogeneous population of South Africa.""

"Her works reflects a morbid ambiguity of excess and loss; a dislocation between appearance and truth. ‘Beautiful’ or seductive objects, environments and installations are used as a ruse to obscure the primary subject matter, which is often dark, complicated and messy."

"Goodman’s art focuses specifically on the subject of middle class experience and prejudices; looking at everyday obsessions and superficial behavior (such as fanatic exercise culture and conventions of marriage and beauty) she explores the way individuals respond to our contemporary, highly materialistic society and the idiosyncratic coping mechanisms they develop."

"Emptiness is a key notion in Goodman’s work to date. Sparkling suitcases – emblazoned with brand logos and covered in sequins, but empty – question the vacuity of global brand fetishism."

"The strength of her work lies in the fact that it’s often presented with sheen, sensuous exteriors which allude to the latent libidinal energy that stimulates consumption, as seen in her use of glossy nail varnish."

"“Yet Goodman, who has been working for some time with the question of how to be a woman who wields femininity and negotiates inherited roles tied to profound ideologies, wants to stay right here in our contradictions. She is telling us that artifice isn’t nothing; it’s trying to make sense of the world of gender roles, as well as one’s place in it.""

"Goodman makes a mass of thousands of purple acrylic nails into a surging, rippling, mottled object that suggests a vagina but might be a version of the Charybdis that was encountered by Odysseus. Flailing toward the viewer from an adjacent wall, Goodman has fashioned another monster"

"“There’s still a need for feminism and a voice for what women have to contend with that men don’t.”"

"“Rapacious is a fantastic word,” says Goodman. “It means needy and greedy and assertive and aggressive, all these attributes we’re taught to be embarrassed about. We’re taught not to want. ‘Rapacious’ asserts these characteristics that are only criticized in women, not men.”"

"‘These objects are about how you look, how you show yourself to the world. You pop a little pill when everything is falling apart inside and suddenly you can put on a smiley face, go out into the world and get your work done.’"

"All the addictions I deal with are about keeping up appearances"

"A shift happens where you become governed by your wants rather than your needs. It’s no longer about getting food, paying the bills, survival. Suddenly, it’s all about needing to go to the gym, needing those new shoes or that new car…"

"“The mundane, the ordinary and the trivial have always been of interest to me, as I believe they all obscure dark places, issues and emotions that people do not wish to confront.”"

"“I don’t buy into your heterosexual traditions. We know that last claim is a lie because in some ways we all do buy into these traditions, it’s very difficult not to.""

"“Fake nails and false eyelashes, though, go against that. You’re able to become expressive, to become someone else. You don’t become the idea of who a woman should be. You become the antithesis.”"

"“Women are often asked to make media-influenced choices about our bodies,”"

"emphatically one of our national artists", with "her quaint brush and charmingly original way of looking at things"

"an English lady who has long resided in the colony and has mingled farming with painting"

"self-possessed by nature and training", who "loved freedom... a slim intrepid woman, with her wide human interests, and zest for work... poised squarely in the path of life, like a bright eagle ready to fly the wind against any wrong done to the young, weak or innocent"

"Jill of all trades, and master of most of them... who, if she was busy, would slip a delicately beaded white chiffon dinner dress over her riding trousers and high leather boots, to arrive at a dinner party with a riding crop instead of a bag."

"Her range of Skullchmey exotic animal skulls of crocodile, baboon, caracul are dipped in liquid precious metals in a technique she has developed herself. Her metal embalming process leaves the exotic animal skulls in an antiqued patina finish that is already being copied by others."

"Her 2013 collection "Diamond Dreaming" included bracelets, necklaces and pendants inspired by the Islamic Hamsa motif as well as keys, crowns and peace signs in 9ct and 18ct white, yellow and rose gold."

"Her works are designed for the high end luxury market, but also have a playful and girly charm."

"“I’m challenging the conventional thought of an African curio,”"

"“Diamonds are so polished and precious and usually associated with jewellery. When they are set against the unevenness of the bone, it’s quite interesting,”"

"Equally at home in grimy alleys as she is in a studio, she creates murals that are both breathtaking and poignant. I challenge anyone to look at her work and not feel a little overawed by her talent."

"Deeply profound visions existing as physical aesthetic gifts for other viewers."

"A rare incantation of both the earthly and the transcendent."

"A South African artist whose textured imagery brings spirituality and nature to the foreground of urban environments."

"Mirroring our contradictions, her installations encourage us to turn our inner gaze towards the animality within us. It is only by listening to the non-human in us, by letting nature express itself in culture, that we can reinvent the world, the artist suggests."

"“FAITH XLVII’s work questions inner duality and the ambivalence of the world. Shadows intertwined with light, her work is highly inspired by Buddhism, connected to nature, but also haunted by the ghost of post-traumatic stress due to her South African origins. Through her creations, the exploration of the notion of consciousness makes us go through the worst as well as the best of the human experience.”"

"“Through her works, FAITH XLVII leads a spiritual search and offers the visitors to follow her on the winding path to serenity. Light and shadow are intertwined in her art and the chiaroscuro explored by the artist is ambivalent. Deeply meditative, it invites us to pause.”"

"“We forget that the dividing lines specifying countries were merely drawn by politically hungry men. In reality, the earth is open. There are no countries, no borders, it belongs to no one. We are transient visitors and should travel as we please,""

"There's an inherent irony in recreating nature on cement, so the series is a nostalgic reminder of what we've lost but also an attempt to reintegrate that into the present,"

"We have become so distanced from nature, so these murals are an attempt to reconnect us with the natural world."

"Miners are waiting for justice. Workers are waiting for a living wage. People are waiting for service delivery. Refugees are waiting for assistance. Men are waiting for jobs. We are all waiting for an honest politician. So many people are waiting for others to do things first. To take the blame. To do things for them. To take the fall. To build the country. To admit defeat. There has been so much waiting in this country that much time has been lost."

"In empty buildings that felt like spiritual experiences, exploring holy chambers of neglected architecture... finding something so beautiful in what society disregards, and bringing to life that which usually people throw away or ignore."