In the Middle Gallery:
“The
Earth Laughs”
Anthea
Martin and Catherine Stempowski
Memento mori (Latin 'remember that you will
die’).
“My drawings try to reflect the art of detachment
from the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods
and pursuits, with reference to the evidence of life on earth which dates back
to 3000 million years. There have been 5 mass extinctions on the way. We
as a species are just a small part of this and if we vanish, the earth will
laugh, recover and carry on"
(.Dennett. D.C. Intuition Pumps and Other Tools
for Thinking. Beware of the Prime Mammal.43.)
Catherine
Stempowski draws on her personal experience with the landscape from the Central
Drakensberg, specific areas in the Limpopo Province, Mozambique and her
garden. Through charcoal drawing she explores the spaces between, the lost
spaces, the hidden places. This allows negative space to define the subject of
rocks, plants, earth and sky."Without light there are no shadows, there is
no form" she explains. Through her drawings one sees how moving light (the
sun) fragments structure, redefines shapes, and sets new horizons: a constant
rebirth, an ever-changing memory. Stempowski believes that she has to be
barefoot to hear the earth laugh.
Opening talk by Dr. John Roome, Durban University of Technology Fine Art Senior Lecturer
Anthea Martin |
Catherine Stempowski |
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