Lené Ehlers is a South African graphic designer, illustrator and florist who recently released her first full-time illustration project, Trust Your Blood.

Currently on show as part of Salon Ninety One’s When it’s hot out and you wanna have a good time exhibition, Trust Your Blood features a grounding marriage of illustration and flower arrangement that is at once a celebration and an ode to Lené’s personal growth.

We chat to her about her use of various mediums, the space in which she is most creative and what inspired Trust Your Blood.

Tell us about your first memory of illustration.

As a kid, I remember reading a book about a little princess looking for her crown. And another about a boy falling asleep and going on adventures with pirates in his dreams. The illustration styles were so contrasting and I remember thinking about the stories differently because of that. I’ve always loved to draw, but it was only while studying graphic design that I was formally introduced to illustration.

Tell us how art and flower arrangement intersect for you.

My love for flowers began while I was studying my postgraduate degree in illustration. I needed to do something with my hands, something more tactile than drawing. I saw flower arranging as an escape almost – I felt so creative while arranging flowers. Colour choices, composition and finding rhythm are all part of floral design and it came very naturally to me, because I already had training in those visual practices. When I work with flowers, it feels like I am painting with nature; the flowers are the pigments.

Tell us about Trust Your Blood‘s inspiration and your artistic process.

I’ve wanted to illustrate a collection for a very long time now – I felt something brewing beneath the surface, I just wasn’t quite sure was it was yet! I haven’t really illustrated full time since studying. One day in October last year I reached out to my favourite illustrator, we had a coffee and chatted, and I just felt so inspired afterwards. All I needed was that little bit of outward input and motivation.

From there, I created the collection in one month, working constantly. I wanted this very personal first collection to celebrate my journey, and also to acknowledge how everything feeds into your passion eventually: you can totally relax and trust the process (and your blood)!

My process of creating the illustrations was very organic. I wanted to create a wide variety of sizes and compositions, that was my only prerequisite. I was just trusting myself with creating this collection, without wanting anything specifically as the outcome. Everything was very intuitive.

The title is reinforced by drooping red tulips that look like drops of blood – a cool detail I only discovered after all the pieces were finished. I enjoy finding hidden treasures in my work after I create it; it’s the best reward because then I know I stepped out of the way and was being used by a creativity larger than myself.

What do you want people to feel when they view Trust Your Blood?

I want them to feel at peace with where they are at the moment; to feel grounded in a deep knowing; to feel inspired.

What’s the most beloved thing (illustration, flower arrangement or otherwise) you’ve ever created?

Trust Your Blood is super special to me because I merged my love of illustration and flowers and created a whole body of work inspired by it. I loved organising the shoot, styling the floral arrangements, along with the illustrations, and assisting with the photography. I was part of the entire process.

Describe the physical space in which you are most creative.

Loads of white space, wooden floors, natural light beaming in, antique chairs, plants, inspiration stuck on the walls, candles burning, ceramic pots for brushes scattered everywhere, coffee brewing, and paint spots on my clothes.

How does your favourite physical space look?

I recently visited De Nagmaal in Montagu. I loved their space: fresh decor from the garden, handmade ceramics, luxury spices and teas. It felt like I was walking into a treasure box because they have massive shelves decked with gem-like curios. I felt like I was discovering little treasures. If a space does that for my curiosity, I am hooked.

Tell us about your preferred mediums and how you discovered them.

I love using water-based pigments like gouache, acrylic ink and acrylic paint. I have experimented with everything from Copic markers to oil paint. How I use my mediums has definitely changed over the years, as my style has evolved. I am a huge fan of mixing my mediums; there will always be at least three in an illustration. It adds a lovely layered feeling.

What’s your proudest moment as an artist?

Two moments come to mind. The first is when I read my name on the list of the 75 illustrators that where chosen worldwide to partake in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy in 2017. The second is last year when I took part in Salon 91’s group show. They have been my favourite gallery since I was a student and it was magical seeing my work exhibited alongside my favourite artists.

What’s next for you?

I’m planning on moving into my first studio and beginning work on the next collection. I’m also excited about the possibility of exhibiting abroad this year.

Love Lené’s work? Follow her on Instagram (@leneehlers) for more and contact Salon Ninety One to purchase her currently exhibited works.

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Self-taught mixed-media artist Puleng Mongale defines and questions identity in a way that embodies who she is in the present as well as the spiritual bonds she has with the past.

A first encounter with Puleng Mongale’s work was through a socio-political series titled When The Madams Are Away, The Help Will Slay (2016), an honest meditation on Blackness and remnants of the past that most prefer to gloss over. In her latest art works, Puleng’s self-portraits focus on home; adorned in traditional Basotho attire, contrasted by backdrops that evoke feelings of nostalgia and a longing for home. Puleng’s collages, are a re-introduction to the familiar, from the perspective of a young Black woman who has experienced the paradox of life in a small Free State town and as a city dweller in Johannesburg.

We spoke to her to find out more about her artistic path and process.

Image credit: Khotso Bantu Mahlangu

When did your journey with art begin?

I have always been expressive. Growing up, I used to express myself through my appearance: clothing, hair, make-up, etc. In high school, I fell in love with writing – the English class was my favourite. I used to write poetry and I entered numerous competitions and won a few of them. I went on to study English and Communication Science at varsity with hopes of becoming a writer. A year after my graduation I enrolled at Umuzi and worked towards being a copywriter, but it wasn’t quite the right fit for me (although I didn’t realise it at the time). I could never really express myself the way I wanted to using only words so I started experimenting with photography, mostly as an art director and stylist. I’d also come up with my own concepts. When I got retrenched last year, I started learning how to use a camera and that is when I started creating art on a full-time basis.

What informed your decision to do self-portraiture?

Self-portraiture felt more “natural” to me. I was a beginner and my technical skills were not where they needed to be, so I practiced photography on myself, by myself. It was the easiest way of learning photography because all I needed was myself. Self-portraiture wasn’t my plan from the start, but the process happened organically and I fell in love with it.

In what ways has being self-taught shaped what you do?

Being self-taught has taught me to lean on my intuition because that’s all I had/have. I didn’t have other voices competing with my own, so I was able to create from my imagination and really just do what I want/like.

Your art is contemporary yet retrospective. Is that something you wanted to achieve using this medium?

Not in the beginning. At first, I was focused on creating art that is reflective of my life in the city. I wanted my work to be youthful and trendy, but as time went on the work began to form its own identity and that’s when I realised that my work was bigger than me. It started to make an audience out of me and it carried its own message, meant for me. It began to feel like healing work, like a journey into the past.

To what degree is your work based on your personal experiences?

All of my work is based on my personal experience, whether real or imagined. I’m inspired by things that have existed long before I was born, especially aesthetically, but there’s something about this particular [nostalgic] aesthetic that feels familiar to me.

Describe the process of making your art. What inspires you to create?

I have a desire to know who I am beyond my current setting (an urban Black girl). Even though I grew up in a township and in spaces where I was always around Black people, people like me, I always felt that something was lacking outside of the collective… there were parts of me I didn’t get a chance to explore based on the fact that I stay in the city. Most of us are immigrants in Joburg – even though I was born here, I always knew it wasn’t my home. This is what inspires me to create. I always hope that my art will lead me to myself.

I create based on a feeling. Most of my work, well, the photographic aspect of it, happens on the spot. I then try to create a collage with what I have – but I don’t plan my collages. To be honest, they just happen.

Lord Lift Us Up

How do you navigate making art as a woman of colour knowing that there is a certain classist gaze that informs how art is perceived?

By being more and more myself.  That’s how I practice resistance, just by existing as myself and I have found this to be enough.

How has the lockdown changed your work process?

Phew! I am a mother to a three-year-old, both my partner and I are creatives and we’re full-time parents with no breaks in-between, so it has been really challenging trying to create consistently and still take care of our child 24/7 – and make sure that our bills are paid. I also haven’t been able to really develop a body of work from start to finish because time is a luxury for me. I just hope that one day I’ll be able to sit with my thoughts and feelings and be able to create a body of work that I’m 100% immersed in without being restricted by time (or the lack of it).

Is there another medium that you would like to explore?

I hope that one day I will start writing again, when my life stops being so fast-paced and my son is more independent (with a life of his own). I also want to make images more, without necessarily creating a collage out of them. Clothing too – I’d love to learn how to make clothes!

Where do you envision Puleng, the artist, in five years?

In five years, I hope that my art will sustain me and that it will take me to different parts of the world. There are gems waiting for me – I can feel it. Besides that, I don’t like to over-plan. I prefer to surrender to [my] journey, that’s how I avoid getting in my own way.

Follow Puleng on Instagram to keep up to date with her latest projects. You can view and purchase Puleng’s work at the Latitude Online art exhibition at latitudesartfair.com. Read more about Latitudes Online here.

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Don’t miss contemporary mixed-media artist Galia Gluckman’s first show at CIRCA Gallery Cape Town – entitled ora (edge) –, running until 26 May 2018.

Galia‘s latest solo presentation features many large-scale works that have taken close to two years to finish. With cotton paper as her canvas for self-reflection, Galia uses an alchemy of pigment ink, acrylic paint and collage techniques to illustrate a feverish passion of presence, memory and self-awareness. The complex, intricate artistic detail and contrasting hues of bold colour create a sensation of abstraction and a unique creative outlook.

ora (edge) marks Gluckman’s second presentation with Everard Read Cape Town. Catch her debut solo at Everard Read/ CIRCA Johannesburg later this year.

For more information, visit Everard Read or call 021 418 4527.

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Chris Slabber presents his latest works at an exhibition entitled Endo: An Exploration of the Skeleton at Ellis House in New Doornfontein, Johannesburg.

Critically acclaimed photo manipulator and mixed media illustrations guru Chris Slabber hails from the heart of the Klein Karoo and is a multi-award winning artist. His latest exhibition, curated by Dead Bunny Society, is an effort to discard the notion that the skeleton represents only the temporary nature of our life cycle, the unknown and/or evil. His elaborate installations intend rather to instil the idea in viewers that the skeleton is an object of physical beauty and deeper contemplation.

The subject matter of the exhibition is made up of various kinds of observations including immediate, imaginative, psychological and cross-cultural ancestral connections. Mediums used include ink illustration, mixed-media collage and photo manipulation consisting of both original pieces and prints. The exhibition is divided into four different explorations:

Hybrids: the documentation of the skeletons of ancient Greek and Egyptian mythological creatures.
Lifelines: images rendered using straight lines created by three different pen nibs that upon closer inspection appear to be just lines and upon further viewing resemble an identifiable skeleton.
Rorschach: custom Rorschach inkblot tests are blended with a complementing photograph of a skull, digitally manipulated and printed on aluminium sheets.
Ancestral: a smaller, narrative-based installation that explores the earliest human civilisations through the fusion of photographs of modern humans and skulls from the Cro-Magnon era.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 11 February 2017 at 12pm and runs until 5 March 2017.

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