Nature and vivid colours on display at Snowflake Art Gallery
"The artists were chosen to exhibit together as their art contains elements of nature and colour," Martie Bothma, owner of Snowflake explains.
Artists Nathani Lüneburg and Michiel Groenewald opened their art exhibition, “In the Wake of Giraffes and Trees”, at the Snowflake Art Gallery on 7 March.
Martie Bothma, owner of Snowflake, opened the evening, introducing the artists for the night and thanking them for beautifying the building with their art. Martie spoke about the art collection and explained that she had paired these artists as both included elements of nature and welcoming colours in their paintings.
She said the artists met for the first time on Wednesday, 6 March.
Groenewald
Dr Gordon Froud, the head of the Department of Visual Art (DoVa) at the University of Johannesburg, spoke about Nathani and her art. The artist created 18 digital paintings featuring a giraffe and the lifestyle of someone suffering from Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE). Froud explained that Nathani suffers from the condition and uses her art to communicate to her audience what living with TLE is like.
“The work comes alive, and the condition itself comes alive in the art as a giraffe named Natty. Natty is constantly there as an aura to warn Nathani when a seizure is on its way,” Froud says. In epilepsy terms, an “aura” refers to a sense that a person with epilepsy gets before a seizure happens.
One of Nathani’s paintings, “I smell perfume before it comes”, refers to an aura she gets before a seizure is on its way. “Nathani displays living with this condition in such a way that you cannot ignore it,” Dr Froud adds. “Fear of sudden and unexpected death is a reality for someone with this condition. Nathani does not shy away from these things; she embraces the condition through her art.”
Dr Froud continued to explain the process of creating digital art and urged people to read the titles of Nathani’s paintings as they set out what every painting depicts. Nathani speaks about her condition and says one of her paintings depicts a suicide attempt.
“I could not live with epilepsy anymore and attempted suicide,” Nathani explains. “It is an illness that destroys. It destroys you, slowly but surely.”
Nathani is a Visual Arts and Multimedia lecturer, and various students attended the opening, including her class captain, Sanette Breedt, who studies Art History.
The Snowflake Gallery is open from 7:00 to 20:00 on weekdays and 9:00 to 20:00 on Saturdays. This exhibition, “In the Wake of Giraffes and Trees”, will be on display until 23 April 2024.
