An interesting collection of the work of renowned artist Hannalie Taute are on exhibit from Thursday, 27 February, at the Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein.
The exhibition Euphoria . . . in sy Gloria is Taute’s 21st solo exhibition.
The 19 multi-media works portray her re-stitching of historical narratives into a fantastical rebirth of the fairy-tale wedding mythology.
It promises to be a celebration of times to come and aims to provoke a feeling of euphoria.
“I work primarily with the captured image.
“Altered, reimagined and reinterpreted. Using mainly vintage photographs sourced from flea markets and even from my own family archives, which are used as is, or blown up to a larger scale,” explains Taute.
“These discarded remnants of the past are reworked with embroidered rubber inner-tube inlays, and their treatment of these remnants are at times ghoulish and macabre, imbuing the work with notions of identity in terms of culture, heritage and society.
“A re-stitching of historical narrative of sorts.
“The surrealism of conflicting customs and traditions sutured, like stitching up a wound or incision, reminiscent of an autopsy.
“I want to create unsettling work tinged by a bit of humour that questions notions of family, childhood, identity and memory,” the artist explains.
Taute uses embroidery, historically regularly practiced by women, and combines this with discarded rubber inner-tubes, mostly used in heavy vehicles – especially ones from tractors used by farmers today.
These elements are used to enhance old photographs – reproduced by new technology – to create a fresh narrative.
Taute creates her own imaginary fairy-tale kingdom by removing the faces and historical identities from these vintage photographs; as she replaces them with a variety of cultural masks stitched onto rubber with colourful embroidered flowers, a new fantasy emerges.
Something for a world clinging to the need to believe in euphoria.
Humour and seriousness are juxtaposed to create a make-believe world for everyone to enjoy and discuss.
Taute further amplifies the story the exhibition is telling by concocting a clever, quirky title for each artwork.
Taute’s works are included in various private collections around the world, as well as the academic collection of the University of South Africa (Unisa).
She currently resides and works in Riversdale, at the foot of what is known as the Sleeping Beauty Mountain Range in the Western Cape, the Hessequa region.
- The exhibition will be opened today at 18:00 by Prof. Adelheid von Maltitz, a practicing artist, as well as an associate professor at the Fine Arts department at the University of the Free State (UFS).
- A walkabout takes place on Friday at 11:00.
