WORDS Cheri Morris
Cape Town-based artist Kristi Marié Pretorius‘s latest series, Submerge, forms part of Thalassophobia – a personal exhibition that explores her fear and love of the ocean and fear and love of the Self.
Submerge is an extension of Kristi’s 2019 introduction to her weariness of open waters – a metaphor for a life characterised by waves that can both soothe and leave one gasping for air. Dreamy archipelagos are love notes to oceans envied: Kristi wishes, like herself, she could know the things that dwell beneath.
The series sees Kristi explore two different mediums, oil paint to create the richness of the deep blue sea from an aerial perspective and acrylic paint for a translucent quality that seeks to elicit the sensation of a current drawing one in. The interplay of mediums seeks to, at first, overwhelm the viewer with darkness – a symbol of existence’s inevitable pressures. What follows is a path toward the relief of light.
The gentleness of Submerge is an alchemy of vulnerability and anxiety transformed into peace and control; a journey of heartbreak, discovery and loss. The overarching message is: Taking a step back is often all we need to gain perspective about what lies ahead. For Kristi, the situation is the ocean – a source of both beauty and terror. Her perspective gained? “Take me to the deep end, I am ready.”
Love Kristi’s work? Check out the Q&A we did with her here.
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