Fine artists Elmarie van Straten and Jeanne Hugo returned to Stellenbosch on the 29th of August 2019 with an exhibition titled ‘SKAAF’ at Beyerskloof Wynbar on Ryneveld Street.
This marks their first exhibition in the town where they learned their trade. Both van Straten and Hugo obtained a BA Fine Arts degree at Stellenbosch University (SU) in 2005. This is their third collaborative exhibition.
The exhibition features a collection of 25 multi-media paintings.
Van Straten says they both worked on cruise ships selling art and have a history of showing their work together.
Hugo describes the exhibitions as culminating in a body of work and an opportunity that came together because of their joint experiences.
“Funnily enough, everything we do, we do similarly. Its like symbiosis,” says van Straten.
“These paintings of ours are so intimate, they tell stories of us, of our lives and our experiences being new mothers and our experiences of cruising on a ship for how many years. We visited so many different lands, ports, met people, fantasized about having an art exhibition when we get home,” says Hugo.
Van Straten says they didn’t purposefully plan the event to coincide with Women’s Month but realised it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase themselves as strong female artists.
Hugo makes reference to a painting titled “White knuckles” which may represent the tension in one’s hands when forming the power symbol.
An array of paintings by Jeanne Hugo at the ‘SKAAF’ exhibition with “White Knuckles’ featured far right.
Hugo says, “I think there’s a lot of tension in the world right now and females are rising.”
“The painting may symbolise the idea of power for some people and the feminine rising. But it’s really a moment caught in a time of myself as an artist going through trials and tribulations. I was holding that bunch of flowers and I had a tense moment and I saw that image and it burned into my mind.”
Van Straten says working on the cruise ship was a frustrating experience as there was a lot of constrained space and most mediums are a fire hazard and thus not allowed on ships.
“For a long time I wasn’t allowed to make any art and after that, when I fell pregnant, I also wasn’t allowed to work with chemicals. When the baby came I wasn’t allowed to make any art either as he has grown older, throughout all that time, all that [those] built up ideas, inspiration and energy came out,” says van Straten.
Hugo likens it to giving birth, “It’s a year later for you and this is like a second birth-giving, an expression of creativity.”
James Ralph, an exhibition attendee, says “the artwork is very abstract and is probably a reflection of the emotions or experiences that they [van Straten and Hugo] had on their journey.”
Jan Menzel, another attendee and art lover, says, “It’s beautifully exhibited and very impressionistic.”
The evening also played host to a charity auction of a collaborative painting by van Straten and Hugo which raised more than R3000 towards the South African Cart Horse Protection Association.
Van Straten says, “We’ve actually wanted to do it before but we never got around to it. It’s for the people as well as for the animals because people often don’t have the means to take care of the horses properly.“
“I think it’s brilliant, as I love horses,” says Menzel.
James Ralph says, “I think it’s fantastic. Some people feel very strongly about those things but they never really take action and I think raising funds is the answer to support societies that are trying to counteract things from happening. They’ve got a really great idea behind it to do what they want to do and still help something else in the process.”