Published 17 October 2023 in News
Natasha Norman featured in 'Undertow' Group Exhibition at 6 Spin Street
6 Spin Street Restaurant & Gallery
6 Spin Street, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town 8001, South Africa
21 October - 11 November 2023
Vernissage: 21 October 2023 at 10:00 (SAST)
Artists surface the beauty and fragility of our oceans
"From nurdles to newborn whales, this multidisciplinary exhibition explores humanity’s connection – and disconnection – to this salty lifeline."
Spanning a range of disciplines, from sculpture, printmaking and sculptural animation to graphite drawing and underwater photography, the exhibition is both a celebration of our ocean connections and an exploration of humanity’s destructive actions. It asks the viewer to consider the sea as an ecosystem that exists not to merely serve the extractive appetites of capitalism. Our futures are tethered to the ocean. Covering 70 percent of Earth’s surface, it influences weather patterns, is the pump station for our water cycle, and acts as a sponge for our ills, absorbing heat and carbon from land and air.
Each artist explores their relationship to the ocean in their own unique way.
St John Fuller uses the weather-beaten rubble he finds on Cape Town’s beaches to create works that are a modern-day reinterpretation of the story of Adam and Eve. “When I walk along the beaches, my eye is drawn to the alien object: the sweet wrapper; the crisp packet; the tangled mess of fishing line.
So while the surface current is a wonder at the nature I get to experience, the undertow that is far stronger is the knowing that all is not as it could or should be.”
Using coral forms as his inspiration, Darren Botha has created animated sculptures that highlight both the fantastical and fragile nature of ocean life.
Johan de Lange’s whimsical illustrations of marine life bring to mind the naturalist plates of 19th-century philosopher, biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel.
In Sujay Sanan’s graphite drawings of briny behemoths, we are reminded of the majesty of some of the ocean’s inhabitants and the mystery of many facets of their lives. “The ocean represents the vast depth of the unknown. Where the forces of gravity weaken and life can take on strange proportions. Cetaceans have captured my imagination unlike any other marine life form. I see them as great equalisers on the planet, sequestering carbon and living peaceful social lives. As an intelligent counterpart on land, I wonder what our legacy will be?”
Helen Walne’s photographs are open invitations to explore Cape Town’s kelp forests. They are alive with light and colour, each image filled with magic, and provide a glimpse of a world that is foreign to many people.
Gaby Beyer’s underwater portraits are reminiscent of dreams, recognisable shapes that shift through dark waters that resemble our first womb, the cosmic amniotic fluid. “All our bodies of water, fresh or salt, are mirrors to our inner landscapes. We are inextricably linked,” says Beyers.
Natasha Norman l 'Soaked With the Sky' l 2023 l Edition of 6 l Japanese Woodblock Print l 61 x 46 cm
Natasha Norman’s water-inspired prints are created to evoke a resonant response in the viewer. Rather than portraying a particular event, the marks and forms within Natasha’s images ask the viewer to see beauty in transient and natural processes. “To enter the sea is to relinquish control. And in submitting to the ocean’s rhythm one finds the opportunity to discern so much about your life as a ‘landsman,’ as Herman Melville puts it,” Norman says.
For more information, please contact St John Fuller at kritikalmassuk@gmail.com