So a wintery wind came rattling through last night, bringing with it a restless sleep filled with troubled dreams. I did not sleep well with the wind huffing and puffing outside the walls of my apartment and tugging at the windows. Or perhaps its just that I am nervous and stressed about my upcoming exhibition, my first of 2015. It is a joint, collaborative one. It has been, I have to say, a really stimulating and rewarding process working with another artist to produce a body of work which not only speaks to an audience but also to each other: a dialogue between the two artists and their sexes/genders and how they experience femininity/masculinity (which it is said are social constructs).

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THE PRESS RELEASE:

Re-imagining gender stereotypes: Anima-Animus

ArtSPACE Durban: 25 May – 13 June 

Durban artists swany and Bernice Stott re-imagine the Jungian feminine and masculine archetypes in a joint exhibition, Anima-Animus, which opens at the artSPACE Durban on 25 May and runs until 13 June. 

Archetypes are definite motifs that can be found everywhere in the myths and fairy tales of world literature. “They impress, influence and fascinate us,”  considers Srott. CG Jung also describes the archetypes as “unconscious, pre-existed form that seems to be part of the inherited structure of the psyche,” 

Inspired by the art of Dorothy Iannone the artists explore gender and soul and give form to archaic ideas derived from the collective “fantasies, dreams, deliria and delusions” (ref Jung). 

Bernice Stott’s art-making reflects her intrigue with the female body in contemporary South Africa. She has worked across disciplines in the media of painting, photography, sculpture, installation and performance art. Her associated activities have included curatorship of exhibitions and community art projects. Nationally she has exhibited in several centres and her most recent exhibition was Liquid Light at artSPACE Durban (2014). She has a Masters Degree in Fine Arts and an Honours Degree in Drama and has taught in both the Fine Arts and the Drama Departments of Durban University of Technology. From 1988-2013 she was employed as a visiting lecturer and examiner in the department of Drama and Performance Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. 

swany is a Durban-based artist who, while always retaining the characteristics of performance art in his pieces, works across disciplines. With his work, because it often deals with gender issues, he uses embroidery and stitching to deconstruct certain societal perceptions.  He has exhibited at the KZNSA Gallery, artSPACE Durban, the Collective and the Durban Art Gallery. He most recently exhibited in the group exhibition, G1K1 (2014), at artSPACE Durban, and the Natal Arts Trust group exhibition, looking FOR ward: our lives in 2034 (2014), at the Durban Art Gallery. The artist has an honours degree in visual arts from UNISA and is currently studying for his masters in visual arts. He is employed as the KZN arts mentor lecturer for UNISA (part-time) as well as a designer in the clothing industry (full-time).

  • artSPACE durban: 3 Millar Road. Tel: 031-312 0793 Gallery Hours: Mon – Fri 9h00-17h00 Sat and Pub Hols 9h00-14h00

 

Ends

 

Please note the artist’s name is “swany” no capitals.

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Above: Sculpture: Jungian archetype – The Wiseman (swany 2015)

So yes, only three weeks to go until the opening of the exhibition and there is still quite a bit to be done (as there always is). But in truth I am one of those artists who will always work right up to the final minutes before the opening! I am excited though and fairly confident that it is a good body of work.Wish me luck and if you cannot attend check in here for more updates!

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