Sustertjies Painting

I grew up in ultra-conservative South Africa during the Apartheid era. The realisation of the brutalities and injustices committed purely for political gain were stomach churning, and beyond my comprehension. Going through the process of dismantling Apartheid was at first met with denial…then with disbelief...and finally with horror as the terrifying truths were revealed. This experience changed me irrevocably on a personal level, and dramatically modified my view of the world. It has led me to constantly explore what lies beneath the surface - how people portray themselves as opposed to how they are in actuality. After school I studied Fine Arts at university, but I did not finish my degree. I fell in love and was suddenly in a hurry to start working and get married. For better or for worse, my Fine Arts degree was swapped for a paying job. I joined the workforce - and packed away my paint brushes. The paint brushes stayed in storage for a long time, and for a number of years I did not physically create art. And yet, during this time, my mind was active, always working on ways to express ‘the inner’. Over the past 10 years, I have been able to unleash and re-define my passion for making art in all its various forms. I spend time in my studio completing studies of some of my favourite artists, as well as working on interesting faces and features. My work still focuses on capturing the inner being, while attempting to bypass my own biases and predetermined ideas. Part of my process involves constructing figures from disparate elements - often done over a lengthy period of time. I make studies of elements that draws me in different mediums, combine them and arrange them until something true is revealed. I am often surprised and endlessly fascinated by what appears organically. The joy of discovery is always captivating. What lies beneath is always revelatory.