Artist's Biography
Leanette Botha studied Fine Art, Photography and Education at Natal University, Pietermaritzburg, Rhodes University in Eastern Cape, and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, respectively. Her work is represented in private collections worldwide and various publications include both photographic journals and exhibit catalogues in book form. In addition to her studio practice, she facilitates creativity, photographic and drawing workshops. She has curated group exhibitions, both at festivals such as the Standard Bank National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, and the Klein Karoo Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn, and currently curates and organises pop-up exhibitions at various venues in the Garden Route.
Artist's Statement
I have been drawing from an early age and have always wanted to make images. When I was introduced to photography as a student, I felt that I had found a medium that I related to immediately, since it re-inforces the essential practices of creative seeing and composing, it lends itself to encouraging a particular vision, inclining one to focus and limit oneself to what is visually essential. This dicipline has, among its many possibilities, expanded and enriched my drawing practice. In my photography, I try to focus on the quiet, meditative quality in what I see around me, working towards ambivalent interpretations and associations of form. I try and communicate a stillness, whether it is found in sculptural mass or ephemeral atmospheric conditions.
In my drawings, I try to develop, by engaging with the subject matter using a playful and animated line, a sense of the texture of surfaces, building up dense atmospheric areas, much like one would find in silver prints in photography.
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