Absence series

After my daughter Alex passed away in a motor vehicle accident on 10/10/2010 at the age of 18 years, the Karoo became a place of refuge. Its serenity and simplistic beauty promises wholeness, peace and hope it became the ideal setting for re-establishing myself in the new life sans Alex. A small and broken town called Phillipstown appealed to my brittle and fragile state of mind and I decided to invest in a house overlooking the Karoo landscape. The Karoo therefore became the context for my visual exploration as a setting that could assist me in dealing with my personal loss.

In search of visual inspiration representative of both my relationship with Alex and the Karoo, I became intimately involved in the lives of the people and children of Phillipstown. For some the Karoo landscape offers peace and a spiritual closeness to God, and for other it represents a struggle to survive. I interpreted this contrast as a metaphor for experiencing both life and loss. The visual enquiry focused on the integration of life and loss, and the role of genius loci in the search for wholeness. I was lured in by the broken character of Phillipstown and experience a sense of comfortableness and closeness to Alex in this particular place.

Within the context of this research, the artworks comment on loss and altered reality. Loss is depicted as shadows on empty desolate landscapes. Shadows are temporary, while the landscape has been in existence for millions of years. The fleeting nature of shadows is a reminder of our mortality and could be seen as visual metaphors for the spirits of those who have died.