"Feminine Sublime" Painting

Van Rensburg born in 1969, was a creatively gifted child who loved to draw, act in plays and create things from discarded materials such as building furniture from plastic waste and matchboxes for her dolls. After being blocked from her creativity for many years by a parent, a year as a kindergarten teacher in 1999 in Taiwan rekindled her love for artistic expression and her connection to her creativity. In 2003 she started studying art full time at Thswane University of Technology and received her BTech degree in Fine Arts in 2008. In 2016 she completed a Masters degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria. She was accepted as a PhD candidate at Plymouth University in 2017 and completed three artist residencies in Berlin and Mexico through Transart Creative Practice in collaboration with Plymouth University in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Alongside her art practice Van Rensburg has an in depth knowledge of psychology having completed an Honorers degree in psychology at the University of South Africa in 2000. She continually researches topics related to Narcissistic abuse, childhood trauma, inner child healing and Jung’s theories on the subconscious and the shadow Through inner child drawings. fairy tales and collage I try to process the decades long, brutal abuse I suffered at the hands of my own family and the immense sense of betrayal that functions at the heart of narcissistic abuse by a parent. Our deepest wounds are carried by the child within. My work represents a look into inner child work as a path to healing past trauma. Inner child work is the process of contacting, understanding, embracing, and healing the inner child. The inner child represents the first original self that entered into this world; s/he contains the capacity to experience wonder, joy, innocence, sensitivity, and playfulness. When the inner child gets stuck in trauma at some stage of life, the "adult" can experience ailments such as mental illness, physical ailments and relationship dysfunction. Van Rensburg’s practice includes collage, drawing, mixed media art, embroidery and fibre art. She is an obsessive creative who creates daily. As an intuitive creative she works with the medium which best suits her needs at the time. Through her continuing practice of 22 years she grapples with and processes the aftermath of severe childhood abuse, inter-relational abuse and complex trauma. She keeps learning and growing despite the compulsion of others to keep her small.