SHIRATORI

Marleen De Villiers is a mixed media artist. Her artmaking in textile art explores  the transient nature of natural cycles, in life and death and rebirth.  Current works focus on exposing the subversive themes in human relationships, such as power dynamics, estrangement in families and a questioning of the values of family heirlooms. By using and re-using traditional heirlooms and domestic objects the artist is influenced by the desire to write new stories from previously restrictive cultural and generational influences; creating a more liberating story line and subsequently bringing  new life into used, stained, distressed and broken heirlooms. 

In this exhibition an exploration and expression of threading stories in the dialogue between mind, symbolic meaning and essence is offered.

In creating necklaces the artist explores states of Being , imagination, emotion, symbolism and metaphor in order to probe into a dialogue between art and psychology. The process of making these pieces allows for an intrapersonal and spiritual reflection and  meaning-making, where art is medicine and self-adornment in the wearing of these pieces  pays homage to the wisdom and grace of beauty itself.

As with her textile art-making practice, Marleen uses materials that are natural, found, gifted and collected over many years from various places and countries around the world. Pieces are often deconstructed and re-made in order to re-use, re-purpose, re-imagine and offered a new life.