ARTIST STATEMENT
Simone Marie Farah (b. 1977) – South African artist of Lebanese descent.
Fragments of Self is an evolving body of work that reflects the multifaceted nature of identity and explores my perspective on divinity and mortality in the modern world.
Fascinated by the complex interplay between the psyche and spirituality, I investigate how these themes manifest through abstract expressionism. In a study of light and shadow—incorporating processes of destruction and rebuilding—I delve into the self and its sacred connection to something greater.
This body of work emerged during a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, where my creative journey took on new forms. It began with shadows: my own shadow dancing across the canvas as I painted late into the night, shadows cast by laundry hanging in my room, and the ever-present shadow that walked beside me through the streets of Paris. I was constantly surrounded by reflections, whether in the studio windows or on the shimmering surface of the Seine. The play of light became a central theme, shaping this series. The pieces explore divinity, mortality, and identity through a mix of Chinese ink and oil paints, monoprints, and gilding.
My practice is a ritual of devotion and contemplation as I seek a deeper understanding of the human condition. Through a process of layering and abstraction, each piece represents the relationship between the sacred and the self. I experiment with scale, capturing moments of fragmentation and unity, aiming to evoke a sense of fragility and authenticity.
The monoprints were born out of necessity, driven by the practical limitations of working with oil paints in a live-in studio abroad—such as turpentine fumes and long drying times. The unpredictability of this method aligned with the idea of fragmentation, allowing me to create works that felt immediate and raw.
I invite you to explore your own subconscious as you engage with my work, encouraging shifting interpretations and personal insights.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Simone Marie Farah (b. 1977) is a South African artist of Lebanese descent who works primarily with oil paint and gilding. She originally came from a corporate background in marketing and communications, holding an MBA from the UCT Graduate School of Business and an undergraduate degree in English and African religion. She has been practicing as a full-time artist since 2014.
Primarily self-taught, Simone studied the techniques of the Renaissance Masters and fresco painting at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, Italy. She recently completed a three-month residency at Cité Internationale des Arts, invited by the South African National Association of Visual Arts.
Simone has exhibited with several South African galleries, and her work has been presented internationally in France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the USA, Lebanon, and the UAE.
She currently works from her studio at the renowned Victoria Yards development in Johannesburg, South Africa.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Abagadi bomzila
In this body of work, I question the human condition, focusing on how our upbringing shapes our future. We can never rewrite history, but it is upon us to decide how we use it to our benefit. My focus is on children and the youth, because I believe we are the ones who can bring about change in our homes, help our families escape poverty and other struggles they encounter, and ultimately make this world a better place.
The future is in our hands. In fact, the future has always been in the hands of the youth.
This series is titled “Umphetho wengubo yami”, which figuratively translates to “the fringe of my garment.” This body of work is inspired by African history—the past, the present, and the future that together shape who we are today. African history is represented using hessian jute sack, a material known to have existed in the olden days, when it was used to make clothing. Through monumental figures and the rough, textured background, I question the situation of Africans and how we often become prisoners of our own riches.
In this body of work, I use cow dung, acrylic paint, and charcoal on hessian jute sack. The rawness of these materials serves as a metaphor for struggle. They represent being born into darkness, feeling imprisoned by one’s circumstances, and yet still having to create light and optimism in life.
The application of cow dung as a medium reflects who I am and where I come from. My connection to it began when I was young, helping my grandmother carry cow dung from isibaya (the kraal) for plastering walls and floors. It is known both as a scent that attracts abaphansi (ancestors) and as a herbal medicine derived from different leaves and plants. In this sense, cow dung in my work represents our ancestors, mothers, and grandmothers in the village who worked hard, as well as farmers.
The pegs used to pin clothes serve another metaphor. Their purpose is to keep clothes intact, preventing the wind from blowing them away. Even when it rains, they continue to hold until the clothes eventually dry. In this work, they are a metaphor for hope. They symbolize that no matter how strong the winds of life may be, hope must never be lost, because every storm eventually passes. When it does, the clothes will dry, and just like a farmer, it will be time to harvest.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Thamsanga Mfuphi is a self-taught artist, born in 1998 in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal, in Estcourt. He is currently based in Johannesburg, where he lives and works.
After the death of his mother in 2002, he and his siblings moved to Zimbabwe to live with his stepmother’s family. There, he learned life lessons the hard way. He became a victim of child abuse, was denied the chance to go to school like other children, went weeks without food, and was at times chased away from the place he considered home. His suffering extended further when his sister was raped by someone they considered an uncle. These were among the challenges he endured during the thirteen years he lived in Zimbabwe.
Amid these difficulties, his artistic gift was born. Art became a way to heal, to find peace, and to tell his story using the materials that surrounded him. He later matriculated in 2017 and pursued further studies at the University of Johannesburg in the School of Business and Economics, where he obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Business Management in record time. His motivation for this qualification was to gain an understanding of the business industry and to gather knowledge that could help him turn his artistic talent into a successful career and business.
After completing his business degree, Mfuphi refined his artistic skills and techniques at Artist Proof Studio. His aim is to equip himself with the necessary competencies to contribute to the development of a professional printmaking culture within the visual arts, while producing artworks that align with his personal style and are underpinned by the applied knowledge he has gained through his studies.
“If you are not creating art to engage socially and stimulate the viewer to reflect, then what are you making it for?”
Naisula focuses in her art on the dimensions and complexities that speak to our female identity. Through the use of mixed media, she achieves depth and dimension with her work, playing on the concept that capturing it all through one singular-complete image is impossible.
Naisula comes from a mixed cultural identity herself. Born in Amsterdam, she moved to Tanzania, her mother’s home country at a young age. She grew up in Tanzania and Kenya, and it was there in East Africa that she developed the urge to address and translate the stories told and overheard - through the universal language of art.
In 2018 the renowned University of Arts London accepted Naisula. Surrounded by talented artists and mentors, she continued developing and expanding her work and using different techniques. Yet still with the same focus on ensuring that each detail attained contributes to the female voice being heard, aiming to create a deeper and richer appreciation of the female identity and all that comes with it. Having exhibited in the Netherlands and the Caribbean, Naisula recently moved back to the African continent, motivated to share her experiences and engage with African society where her passion for art was ignited.
Julie is a South African artist, based in Cape Town, specialising in large oil portraits of African woman and children.
She was born in Johannesburg, and completed her Fine Arts degree at Pietermaritzburg University in 1990. After taking an opportunity to work in the IT industry, she ended up staying there for many years. It was only when she moved to Cape Town in 2010, that she started painting again.
Africa is her inspiration. This can be seen in her subject matter, as well as her use of beautiful traditional African beads and Shwe Shwe fabric.
Julie’s portraits were influenced by her work with children in the townships in Johannesburg where she taught at a Saturday School. Her paintings capture the expression and emotion, seen mostly in the eyes of her subjects, often showing the strength of the woman she paints, and vulnerability of the children.
Her art is very tactile and needs to be seen and felt in real life to get the full effect. She uses colour, wide brushes, stencils, beads and fabric, together with her palette knife to add character to her paintings.
She has exhibited her work at a number of galleries in Cape Town. Her paintings hang in people’s homes in Alaska, Switzerland, Poland, India, Canada, the UK and in many beautiful homes in South Africa.
“The eye never forgets what the heart has seen” - African Proverb
Morpheus is the Greek god associated with sleep and dreams, traditionally portrayed with wings. This deity, customarily depicted as male was the son of Somnus and appeared in dreams in human form.
Ansiona, real name Jitka Putnova, is a visual artist based in Cape Town, South Africa, whose passion for painting dates back from her first interaction with a paint-brush. She natively hails from Bro, Czech Republic, and has lived around the world over the years, thanks to her aspirational love for travelling and global cultures.
As a fine art alumni, her artistic practice spans across multiple disciplines, including painting, drawing, and mixed media. Her hands-on and continuous-learning is embodied in her unique abstract, contemporary style.
Ansiona refers to timelessness, as derived from an antique watchmaker. In her art, Ansiona strives to blend elements of timeless storytelling through art, and art that mirrors real-life stories, through time.
As an advocate for femininity, Ansiona’s artwork is deeply rooted in celebrating the power and beauty of womanhood. Her subjects and compositions embody this ethos, capturing the essence of the feminine spirit in all its forms. Through her art, she aims to create a safe & inclusive space for women to be seen and tell their stories without prejudice. Through her art, Ansiona invites viewers to explore the complexities of identity and the interconnectedness of humanity.
ARTIST STATEMENT
PORTRAITS OF THE MIND
This body of work invokes, contemplation, empathy, and reflection, aiming to foster a deeper understanding of mental illnesses and those that are challenged by them. To capture this, a group of 8 unique women were interviewed and told their individual stories which are portrayed in the artwork. Today, more than ever, we co-exist with mental disorders as part of our reality, as much as a human brain remains an existential mystery. The collection peels through these layers to bring its realities closer to the viewer’s eyes than before. This should foster a more informed perspective of our mental states and their relative challenges.
The collection includes a total of 8 paintings of 40 x 40 cm. The medium is Acrylic and Ink on canvas.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My art is a vessel for storytelling—a way to capture the depth and complexity of human experience. Through each piece, I seek to bring to life the faces, histories, and realities of those who are often unseen, translating their emotions into visual form to spark connection and understanding.
As a colourblind artist, contrast is central to my process—both visually and conceptually. I work primarily in mixed media, combining acrylic paint with newspaper collage on large-scale canvases. My hands are as vital as my brushes; they allow me to physically engage with the work, to feel its textures, and to channel energy directly onto the surface. What began as a practical aid—using newspaper to distinguish contrast—has become a meaningful storytelling device. These clippings, though selected at random, embed layers of history and meaning into my paintings, merging personal narratives with the weight of the world.
Through collage, layering, and impasto techniques, I create textured compositions where contrast guides the viewer’s eye. This interplay between clarity and obscurity, past and present, echoes the complexity of the human condition.
We live in a world overwhelmed by images, headlines, and narratives that shape our understanding of reality. To me, newspapers are both mirrors and time capsules—preserving the past, reflecting the present, and gesturing toward the future. In my work, these printed fragments interact with the figures I paint, highlighting the relationship between the personal and the political, the individual and the collective. What emerges is a conversation between paint and print, between history and lived experience, between viewer and subject.
At the heart of my work is human connection. I paint people—figures who carry the weight of their stories in their eyes, posture, and presence. Their emotions are raw, stripped of pretense, inviting the viewer to truly see and feel with them. My mixed-media approach allows me to explore the tangled relationship between our internal worlds and the external forces that shape them.
In an increasingly fractured and fast-moving world, my work offers a moment of pause—a return to the simplicity and truth of pure emotion. Laughter, sorrow, solitude, anger—these universal feelings transcend language, geography, and culture. They call us to reflect: What is the root of this emotion? Why am I feeling it? And how will it shape what I do next?
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
I am a Namibian visual artist based in Windhoek, working primarily with mixed media to capture the complexity of human experience. My practice blends painting with newspaper collage to explore themes of identity, history, and social narrative. Growing up in northern Namibia, my artistic journey has been deeply shaped by cultural storytelling traditions and an instinct for contrast—an instinct influenced by my colourblindness.
I studied at the College of the Arts (COTA) in Namibia, where I refined my skills and developed a distinctive visual language. My approach embraces both traditional techniques and experimental methods, using texture and layering to guide the viewer’s engagement. In recent years, I have drawn inspiration from Namibia’s underground pop culture of the 1950s–1970s—a period marked by resilience, creativity, and transformation.
My career has included numerous solo and group exhibitions across Africa and Europe. Selected exhibitions include People (2023) at Young Blood Art Gallery in Cape Town; Namibia-German Initiative (2021) at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart; and Created in Isolation (2020) at the Namibia Arts Association (NAA). My work is represented in several notable collections, including the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, the Ministry of Science, Research, and the Arts of Baden-Württemberg, and the National Art Gallery of Namibia.
My artistic vision and connection to Namibia’s history and culture are further explored in the short documentary Healing Roots, produced by Loft Arts. The film offers insight into my creative process, sources of inspiration, and how my work bridges past and present—bringing untold stories from Namibian history into the public eye.
