Strauss & co - 16 February 2019, Cape Town

37 23 Berni Searle SOUTH AFRICAN 1964– Parched, from the Seeking Refuge series signed, dated 2008 and numbered ED 2/5 in pencil in the margin archival pigment ink on cotton rag paper image size: 102 by 144 cm; sheet size: 112 by 154 cm R30 000 – 50 000 Photo credit: Tony Meintjes. takes to the wind, and she seems to be floating off into the sky. In Parched , the second in the series, Searle crouches on a white surface chequered with pieces of curled mud. And in Enfold , the third in the series, her prostrate body seems to be enfolded by the earth itself. Her presence in the landscape signals an artistic interest in identity and place. Says Clive Kellner: ‘Rather than document or hold to account historical events, Searle moves into a realm that is at times abstract, always provocative and visually sumptuous. Her work occupies a space that is liminal and sublime as in the tradition of the Romantics, exploring themes of beauty, loss and transcendence.’ 2 Berni Searle was born in Cape Town in 1964 and obtained an MAFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT, in 1995. She is currently Professor and Head of Department at that institution. She has mounted numerous exhibitions, locally and internationally, chiefly at Stevenson, Cape Town. The most notable event in her international exhibition his- tory is her participation in the Earth Matters exhibition at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 1. Juliana Irene Smith. (2016) ‘The Contemporaries: Berni Searle’, Artthrob , August 12. 2. Clive Kellner. (2006) On Beauty, Loss and Transcendence, in Sophie Perryer. (ed.) (2006) Berni Searle: Approach, Johannesburg: Michael Stevenson.