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My first solo exhibition with the title “Archetypal Memories” was opened by Emma Willemse (artist, art educator and friend) on 28th August 2008 at Upstairs@Bamboo, Melville. Emma said: “What was life like for a woman living 30,000 years ago? How did the experiences of those women compare to the experiences of women today? I ask these questions because this is what comes to mind at first sight when I am looking at these artworks.”
Emma continued: “Marieta works with a variety of media. She has worked with clay, assemblage, paper, printing, and found materials. Together with the wide variety of media she has used the processes and techniques of collage and assemblage, layering, stacking, blending, superimposing and juxtapositioning her materials to create an intricate network of referencing to being female. When we look at the works we sense that Marieta’s probing includes references to an ancient existence, but at the same time existing very much in the here and now.”
“Marieta does not explore womanhood in a feminist way, but rather probes and questions what it means to be a woman today. And yet at the same time, her search is a quest to unlock and access the universal layers of memories produced by women throughout the ages. Marieta is not an activist, but rather an archaeologist excavating female identity throughout the ages and its implications on contemporary times. She asks questions, rather than gives answers, and leaves the viewer with an open-ended invitation to explore the meaning embedded in these works.”
Much of what I create seems to come up from my unconscious, and when I allow this to happen, works like the “Celebration Blanket” and “Journey to the Wild Side” just happen, as though they create themselves.
Preparing for the group exhibition at Coolart Gallery in November 2009, I find that the fragmented female torsos want to be taken farther . . . . . .
Emma Willemse said, at the opening: “Formally, this wonderfully minimalistic “Celebration Blanket” could not be farther removed from “Journey to the Wild Side” , but the cloak shares the same content. The cloak is monumental, but at the same time quiet and understated. In its whiteness it alludes to a garment that should be worn during an ancient ritual. This ritual could even be fantastic. Since I first saw it, I experienced it as a cloak to be worn during an imaginary ritual involving clouds and the moon.”
“I know one of the things that Marieta has always been interested in, is the fact that paper has a memory. If you have bent paper or spilled water on it, the traces of the act will forever be embedded in it. Maybe this is what Marieta is telling us in this artwork: it is a memory of a ritual done in ancient times, a time when the first archetypes were created in human consciousness.”
I made this cloak from office papers that I recycled, reshaped, embellished with other plant fibres and adorned with feathers. It is about 2 meters wide and 2 meters long.
It was part of the travelling “Paper Blanket Project” that showed in the Prince Vincent Building at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees at Oudshoorn, 21-29 March 2008. It was also part of the exhibition at Molla’s Art Gallery in Rustenburg, 6-10 October 2008.
This work initiated and formed the core of the body of work for my first solo exhibition.
Price: R 9,200 (including postage and packaging)
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At the opening, Emma Willemse said this: “In some of the work Marieta aged the surfaces with a brownish colour alluding to the discolouration produced by rust. In this work, the ageing process is belied by the use of contemporary found objects ( a vacuum cleaner, a tennis racquet etc.), referring to a time in the past but at the same time pulling it very much into the present. The found objects have lost their original purpose by Marieta’s intervention and became clues to the content of the work. In this work, Marieta has purposely used Baroque-like, almost overly decorative layering of materials to produce layers of meaning. Amongst other ideas, the work refers to female sexuality, Pop Art (in the speech bubble), self-reflective searching, and issues about female empowerment, conflict, abuse of power, and violence. It is truly a thought provoking work.”
The inspiration for this work was the re-reading of Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ book “Women who run with the Wolves”.
The figure against the wall is life size.
Price: R 6, 500
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This fragment was made from a large drawing that I tore in two. Some areas I cut out and discarded.
The disappearing ancient way of life of the San people, together with Antjie Krog’s book “En die sterre sê ‘Tsau”, was the specific inspiration for this work.
Paper sculpture about 60cm high and 36cm wide.
Price: R 3,800 (including postage and packaging)
I tore a large drawing in two. I cut out pieces and discarded them, leaving only the holes.
The disappearance of the ancient way of life of the San people, prompted me to do this work.
Paper sculpture about 60cm high and 36cm wide.
Price: R 3,800 (including postage and packaging)
Handmade paper, using plants in my garden. About 60cm high and 36cm wide.
Based on the ancient myth of Demeter.
Price: R 3,800 (including postage and packaging)
Paper sculpture about 60cm high and 36cm wide. Mixed media.
Based on the ancient myth of Persephone.
Price: R 3,500 (including postage and packaging)
Paper sculpture about 60cm high and 36cm wide. Mixed media.
Price: R 2,800 (including postage and packaging)
Paper scuplture about 60cm long and 36cm wide. Mixed media.
Price: R 3,500 (including postage and packaging)
Paper sculpture about 60cm long and 36cm wide. Mixed Media.
I used a picture of an ancient Majan mural as source material.
Prtice: R3,500 (including postage and packaging)
Paper sculpture about 60cm long and 36cm wide. Mixed Media.
Price: R 2,800 (including postage and packaging)
Paper sculpture about 60cm long and 36cm wide. Mixed media.
Price: R 3,800 (including postage and packaging)
Paper sculpture about 60cm long and 36cm wide. Mixed media.
Price: R 3,500 (including packaging and postage)
A visual diary of everyday objects. Mixed media on paper using a layering technique.
Price: R 2,800 ( including postage and packaging)
A visual diary on paper using mixed media in a layering technique.
Price: R 2,800 (including postage and packaging)
