Portraiture is not my first choice of subject matter, however, when the gauntlet is thrown down, I have taken to the challenge and enjoyed the process tremendously. The first Himba Girl, painted in 2016, was an experimentation with abstraction in an attempt to break with my realistic tendencies. Then in 2019 I took part in a group exhibition, ‘The Winter Salon with Friends & Faces’ at The Art Gallery in Hermanus. I wanted to revisit the idea of abstracted portraits but I was so captivated by the sense of strength and pride in the eyes of these women that I went back to my ‘default’ realism and the ‘FACES OF AFRICA’ series was created.
