Artists 

Adele van Heerden
Cape Town artist Adele van Heerden pays close attention to complexity. As an artist and curator living in a world where the binary has been replaced by the spectrum, Van Heerden revels in the beauties of the multifarious, creating intricate pieces in ink & gouache on paper which juxtapose the natural world with human history. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, she produces finely detailed, often layered work as a personal response to the particular social, historical and political conditions she finds herself in.
After graduating with a degree in Fine Arts from the Ruth Prowse School of Art in 2010, Van Heerden continued her studies at the University of South Africa, obtaining a BA in History and Politics. In 2015, she graduated from the University of Cape Town with an Honours Degree in Curatorship.

Claude Chandler

Claude Chandler is an artist based in Cape Town with a N.Diploma in Fine Arts. Working from SideTrack Studios which he also manages. He produces large abstract portraits using his unique 'stamp' technique.
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He has taken part in numerous art fairs, locally and abroad. Inspired by digital technologies and ways one perceives the world through the lens and screen. His work revolves and comments on 'ways of seeing' and the illusions of the digital self/avatar.

Marli Steyl

I am a Fine Artist working mainly in oils and alcohol ink. My point of origin is my place as a young, white, Afrikaans-speaking female in post-colonial, post-Apartheid South Africa.
I have been sheltered in my parents’ middle-class, suburban home in Randburg, Johannesburg. As I have ventured outside this privilege I was born into, I am frequently challenged to question my identity and the advantages I have been afforded.
Family photographs are the source material for many of my paintings. They are snapshots of the joyous experiences and memorable moments of my parents and grandparents from the 1930s to the early 1990s. I return to these images with difficulty as they resemble the memories and histories of many Afrikaner families during the Apartheid years. Documented moments of joy that appear to disregard political and social wrongs of the time.
​In post-Apartheid South Africa, I feel that many white, Afrikaans-speaking people need rehabilitation. I, therefore, use my art to explore the past and present to reconcile the privilege of my birth, and the pride and love for my heritage, with being a truly South African in our new democracy.

Tanja Truscott

Tanja Truscott’s artwork is born from a fascination with painterly abstraction and the power it has to engage us visually and emotionally. She works intuitively and is inspired by sounds and sensations from the outdoors ... or just as easily by literature, poetry and music. Any of these can be the impetus for the colours and tools she chooses, the marks made and the shapes that emerge.

Born in the Netherlands but now living and working in Cape Town, Truscott received a BA in Graphic Design from the University of Stellenbosch in 1984 and a Diploma in Secondary Teaching in 1990 from the University of Cape Town. She has taught art and after many years spent in educational publishing as an illustrator, graphic designer and art director, she turned to painting full time in 2015. Truscott’s most recent group exhibitions in Cape Town (2019) include Secret Garden at Art-on-Avenues and Nano 1.3 at the Barnard Gallery. Her work is represented in private collections both locally and abroad.

Robyn Pretorius

Robyn Pretorius started her art journey from a young age but only after a career shift committed herself to become a full-time artist and invested more time in art research.  This encouraged her to create a significant body of work which would introduce her into the local art industry. Since then she has landed her first solo exhibition in 2016 at Youngblood Gallery and extended her reach in the local art industry.
Her art practice has shown commitment to the local art scene but has also reached the international audience with exhibitions in New York and Europe. She attended her first art residency at Glo’art, Global Art Centre in Belgium in 2018. This experience allowed her to experiment, explore and refine her practice. Today, Robyn Pretorius has grown tremendously as a local emerging artist and uses her art to uplift and convey a narrative which is greatly inspired by her community and personal experiences.

Mary Visser

My studio practice is centered around experimentation and the invention of spaces. In the studio I make, test, play and push around materials, colour and forms. All these collages, 3-d objects and scraps of studio detritus along with numerous images of fashion, interiors and art end up scattered on the studio floor. I look to these images and non-images to trigger chance happenings in my paintings. As I paint I deliberately make a mess and then try and fix it.

Matthew Prins

Matthew Prins (b. 1984) is a visual artist currently living and working in Cape Town. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Visual Communication Design from Stellenbosch University.

Prins is inspired by textile designs, particularly those of Austrian architect, Josef Frank. His works reflect a sophisticated understanding of shape, colour and composition such that their simplicity belies a skillful draftsmanship and acute design aesthetic.

He works primarily with acrylic paint on canvas in a graphic application. Subject matter is collected from everyday life and focusses on plant matter as a central vehicle for his creative expression. His approach finds rhythm in the structure of plants through which he processes compositions rich in colour and repetition.

Rentia Retief

Rentia Retief (b.1992, Caledon) received a Bachelors in fine arts from the University of Stellenbosch in 2014, and an Honours in illustration in 2016. She currently lives and works in Somerset West where she spends a lot of time in the surrounding nature and mountains which serves as a great influence on her work.

Rentia captures her experience of the great outdoors by means of drawing and painting.

in her work she expresses her awareness of our brief presence in this world and captures the fleeting moment by often drawing on a grand scale and in en-plain-air. Her drawings are an attempt to share the feelings that transcend the visual perception of her surrounds; with the movement and energy of the natural elements that contributes to the mark making process. These landscapes are an invitation for the viewer to feel the moment, even though one cannot perceive it in its entirety. from her study to capture the movement of the moment she furthermore explores what we understand as a wild or unhindered environment in comparison to what is considered as tame.

Karen Wykerd

The central theme of my work is the urban landscape and having moved to Cape Town from Johannesburg five years ago has been instrumental in influencing my work. This city has continued to captivate me with its abundance of beautiful historical buildings, numerous parks, promenades and harbour, it is truly a city for the people. One of my main motivations as an artist is the pursuit of light ‐how it defines a scene and changes our experience of it at any one time. How a scene can be entirely different in the morning and then again in the evening. I love this quote by the artist John Constable. “The sky is the source of light in nature and it governs everything”
In my work I aim to highlight the beauty of the daily commute. These unassuming everyday scenes that become common place due to routine are transformed and elevated through use of colour, light and layers of thin washes. Suddenly the viewer is confronted with something dream like and worthy of being documented. Not only do I take a closer look at roads most travelled, but also zoom out and paint large expanses of sky and the city from a far. I view the city as a stage on which daily acts, significant or insignificant are played out.

Dayna-Gay Tate

My in-betweens and quiet captures are often enveloped by the pace and presence of nature and therefore natural, botanical, and earthen elements nuance much of my work. Nature inspires me to play, and the organic and unhurried way of nature is often what motivates my work. 
Most of my pieces are embedded with playful abstraction and an exploration of the shapes and colours I find in the botanical moments around me. My paintings are all created from my imagination and layers of memory. It is often that I paint places I have never been, and for me this speaks to a longing for quiet and a longing for the untouched landscapes I wish I could inhabit.

Joanna Lee Miller

I paint landscapes and portraits to hold onto a moment in time, to feel present, to celebrate being alive, and to connect each of us to what is deep within us. I paint en plein air (in the open air, outdoors) and from life. My style is expressive, bold, quick – often because this is exactly what is required to capture the fast-changing light and quickly moving clouds. I am captivated by my natural environment and the endless challenge to render in paint the beauty I see around me. I apply my academic training to bring realism to my paintings, yet I leave plenty of space for bright, unexpected colours, and stylised shapes to bring out the essence of my subjects.
Art for me is like a mirror to existence. Art causes me to feel, validates and contains my feelings, gives me a sense of belonging in this world, and helps me understand my place. I aim for my art to bring this sense of presence and connection to others, as we share in our human experience
​I have recently returned to Cape Town, the city of my birth, after studying for three years at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy. Prior to this, I lived and worked in New York, London and Singapore, pursuing a corporate career in Change Management and Human Resources, before committing to my true passion – celebrating nature and people with canvas, brushes and oils.

Aimee Lindeque

​Aimee Lindeque was born and raised on a farm in Mpumalanga, South Africa. After matriculating In 2013, she moved to Cape Town to study Fine Art at Michaelis UCT (university of Cape Town) where she majored in Sculpture and Art History. After graduating with a Bachelors in Fine Art, she became a full time artist in Cape Town.

Aimee creates intricate watercolour and acrylic paintings, ink drawings, murals and illustrations. Since childhood, she has developed a deep love for Illustration and cartoons. The works of Jean Giraud and Martin Handford have had a large influence on her art. She enjoys doing studies of daily life, absorbing a wide variety of experiences and moments. Her work can be seen as a kaleidoscope of surreal imagery that references these experiences. She playfully describes her work as "Hieronymus Bosch meets where’s Wally". 

Leandri Erlank

As an artist, I am constantly exploring new ways to depict that
which I believe in and connect with in the most honest way possible.
I trust that the viewer will experience something when looking at work
that was created with passion, but also with context that is personal to the artist.
This is the power of art.

Hannah Yason

Hannah was born and raised in London, UK (1979)  from where she brought her art soaked veins to settle in Cape Town (2014). Prior to her shift to being a full time artist Hannah taught art for a decade in London (PGCE, Art and Design Education, Institute of Education, 2003). To further satisfy her passion for art and design education and art therapy she gained an MA in Art and Design Education, Institute of Education, London (2008) and an Advanced Diploma in Art Therapy from The Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education, London (2010). Since graduating from the University of Reading, UK (BA Hons Fine Art, 2002) she has exhibited in both the UK and South Africa. Hannah has works in private collections in the UK, France, Germany and South Africa.
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It is through the creation of abstract paintings, using oil paint and sand (a unique process) that Hannah is able to deepen her spiritual and healing journey. Inspired by her training in Shambhala Art (France 2014), meditation has become a platform from which her work materializes. Beginning her process directly on the canvas, her initial vision is often challenged by intuition, spontaneity and surrendering to the process. It is through the art making process in which she explores profound and deeply personal life experiences which, by nature, are universal.

“What is most personal is most universal” Carl Rogers

Joh Del (Johan de Lange)

Joh Del (Johan de Lange) Illustrator and artist. Joh’s work is characterised by its intricate line work and fine detail that draws the viewer in to discover a world full of little surprises hidden in unexpected places, always using his own palette of natural colours. The tools used are Rotring technical drawing pens, dipping pens, 3D paper crafts, Wacom tablets and impasto oil paints. His work celebrates the natural wonders around us. The magic and beauty as well as all the mysterious and fascinating weirdness that is found in nature. There’s a positivity that runs through it all, and sometimes a touch of fantasy too. He occasionally gets commissioned to create artwork for advertising campaigns, and has received numerous awards for this work. Joh Del completed a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at the University of Johannesburg (Technikon Witwatersrand) in 2004. After some years in Amsterdam and London, Joh is currently living and working in Cape Town.

Kim Gurney

Kim Gurney (PhD) is a writer and visual artist. She is affiliated as a Research Associate in the African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town.
Kim is currently busy with book projects articulating her recent research on the organisational principles of independent art spaces (‘offspaces’) on the African continent. She approaches publishing as artistic practice and focuses upon long-form narrative and related exhibitions. Kim was formerly a journalist and ran a newsroom in London before switching in 2003 to the artworld. This previous life informs her current practice of linking contemporary art to current affairs, and she still occasionally writes journalistic pieces.
Kim works independently from Sidetrack Studios in Salt River, Cape Town. Her artistic practice generally engages disappearances of different kinds and makes restorative gestures. She also collaborates with other artists on occasional curatorial projects including guerilla gallery, a nomadic platform for experimental small-scale interventions she runs biennially in site-specific public space. In late 2021, this platform will launch a microgallery in a backyard shed: a tiny space for big ideas.
Kim is the published author of two books. ‘August House is Dead, Long live August House!: The story of a Johannesburg atelier’ (Johannesburg: Fourthwall Books) is a work of creative nonfiction that tells the story of a building during a period of limbo by following the trajectories of new artworks made from its midst. ‘The Art of Public Space: Curating and Re-imagining the Ephemeral City’ (London: Palgrave Macmillan) is a monograph that closely follows a Johannesburg public art trilogy, New Imaginaries, comprising walking, gaming/ new media and performance art respectively. It makes propositions around the commons and offers a retort to economic validations. Her next book, ‘Panya Routes: DIY institution building as artistic practice’, is forthcoming (Geneva & Berlin: Motto Books).

Catherine Ocholla

Catherine Ocholla was born in Kenya in 1983. She grew up in South Africa and obtained a BA degree in Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2007, followed by a Master's degree in Fine Art in 2022.  Her professional career spans 15 years during which she immersed herself in a number of art related projects that include the curation of group events and the participation in solo and group exhibitions.
An exceptional painter,  Catherine's primary focus is on the sky as a backdrop to humanity’s (mostly self imposed) dramas, with more environmental undertones that point to issues of global warming, land, pollution,  and  as a reflection on how we will be remembered by future generations: an attempt to both capture the zeitgeist of this era and imagine different iterations of the future. Like Phillip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids dream of electric sheep’, she leaves these paintings as a warning of what we stand to lose as we continue to take nature for granted; the sky above us now might be the simulated dream of others in years to come.