About
My art making practice is a vehicle to explore ideas linked to the experience of loss. I am interested in how this experience affects the constructs of place, identity and memory. My research in the displacement knowledge field resulted in the conclusion that the loss of place is experienced not only on a physical level, but also on a psychological, sociological and cultural level.
My point of departure in art-making is through the engagement with material – to experiment with and to manipulate material until it becomes a carrier of meaning. I use materials that reference specific sites and their history. My aim is to employ material as a metaphor, not only in a physical three-dimensional way but also in a pictorial way in my two-dimensional work.
My artworks are technically varied and include sculptural and site-specific installations, drawing, painting, printmaking, film and artist's bookmaking. During artist residencies and travels my photographic documentation is geared towards the collection of overlooked details of a site, the remnants and traces that reveal the hidden narratives of place.
In recent years my art practice has expanded to include collaborations and community projects such as with Spier Arts Trust's Mosaic Academy; the New Music composer Michael Blake; and a collective of youth creatives, called The Arteri, based in Riebeek Kasteel where I live.
Head to my Project page to see a range of my art making investigations.
More information on my artist's book installation here, and an inventory of my artist's books here
More information on 'Richmond Loop', a multimedia response and collaboration with Michael Blake here
PRESS
Reviews
Artthrob review on the 'artwords' exhibition 2023
Review on Disrupt exhibition by Melvyn Minnaar 2021
Litnet review on Woordfees exhibition 2018
Articles
In conversation with Elrie Joubert and Laurel Holmes on Litnet about our works on the 'artwords' exhibition 2023
Article on Points of Departure by Laetitia Pole 2022
Article on MESH in the Art Times 2022
Short article on Disrupt in the Star September 2021
Article on Disrupt in the Art Times 2021
Websites
Announcing Disrupt II at Spier Wine Estate 2021
About Disrupt II at Spier Wine Estate 2021
Exhibition bio on the Orafrica website 2017
Body of the book exhibition in Paris 2017
Works on Artsy
Film
Displaced: a film about the work of Emma Willemse by director Victor van Aswegen
Dissertation
Dissertation on the phenomenon of displacement.
Catalogues