In a world increasingly defined by speed, surface and spectacle, the quiet, contemplative work of artists Bev de Lange and nomThunzi Mashalaba reminds us of the power of art to return us to ourselves.
In their distinct yet overlapping practices, both artists delve deeply into the personal and philosophical, transforming material into meaning and gesture into meditation.
Through threads, leaf, pigment and form, they navigate memory, mourning, embodiment and time — inviting art lovers to join them in intimate acts of reflection.
Their “Seeds Are Sewn As Time Unravels” exhibition is on at the GFI Art Gallery in Park Drive, Gqeberha, from Friday to August 27, with a special artist walkabout on Saturday, from 11am to noon.
De Lange’s work is a fusion of spiritual inquiry, personal history and painstaking craft.
A former nurse and theatre sister whose medical past continues to echo through her work, De Lange’s art is rooted in the body — not just as subject, but as a site of knowledge and transformation.
During her residency in 2023 at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, De Lange found new inspiration in the work of Norwegian artist Anna-Eva Bergman, particularly in Bergman’s view of art-making as a spiritual practice.
“It resonated deeply with my own vision: art not as decoration, but as a visual embodiment of lived, conscious experience,” she said.
Using gold and silver leaf, red oxide pigment and botanical imprints, De Lange’s works shimmer with quiet intensity.
Her visual language is anchored by two potent symbols — the mandorla, an almond-shaped form formed by overlapping circles, and the slow, meditative acts of puncturing and suturing.
“These techniques are more than aesthetic — they are rituals, embodying the tension between vulnerability and repair, rupture and healing.”
Her stitched gold threads become literal and metaphorical ties that bind the physical to the spiritual.
Among her accolades, she highlights the ARTEC Most Promising Artist award (2004), multiple showings at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum and a PhD in Art Philosophy from Unisa completed during the Covid-19 pandemic — a time when her deeply introspective series “Botanical Translations” began to emerge.
Her international reach includes exhibitions in Paris and Eindhoven, and her work is held in collections around the world.
For De Lange, art is an ongoing inquiry — into the self, into consciousness, into the invisible threads that connect experience, thought and soul.
Her recent pieces, such as “Biome” and “Athanor”, expand on this journey, drawing on her rich background in both medicine and metaphysics.
If De Lange’s work is a quiet chant, Mashalaba’s is a rhythmic hum — a weaving of time’s layers into tactile form.
Her practice explores the elusive and often capricious nature of memory, treating time not as linear but as a living, shifting presence.
For Mashalaba, “textile is not merely material — it is language”.
Each thread, knot, and layer speaks to emotion, absence and the fragile continuity of lived experience.
Her latest works — woven paintings, wall hangings and sculptural pieces — offer both intimacy and immersion.
Viewers are drawn into a space where time folds and unfolds, where memory is preserved, unravelled and rewoven.
Through experimental weaving methods, she says she transforms textile into a medium of personal and collective archive — capturing the residue of loss, the echoes of mourning and the subtle shifts of emotion.
“I hold a BA in Fine Art from Tshwane University of Technology and have exhibited widely both in SA and abroad,” Mashalaba said.
“My international presence includes exhibitions such as “Map of the New Art in Venice, Crossing Boundaries” in Qatar and “The Art of Humanity” at Pratt Institute in New York.”
She has also participated in residencies from Switzerland to Madagascar, each deepening her reflective, interdisciplinary approach.
While her art is deeply rooted in her own emotional landscape, it resonates universally — offering a quiet but profound meditation on how we experience time, how we carry loss and how we piece ourselves together in its aftermath.
Though their materials and methods differ, De Lange and Mashalaba share an ethos: art as a space of slow time, of contemplative making, of personal truths rendered visible.
Both artists employ meditative processes — stitching, weaving, suturing — that demand presence and patience.
Both also explore the liminal: De Lange through spiritual symbolism and embodied consciousness; Mashalaba through time’s fragmentation and the fluidity of memory.
In the hands of these two artists, every thread, puncture and imprint becomes a mark of care — an invitation to pause, to remember, to feel.
In a fast-moving world, their art dares us to be still.
The Herald
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