Faith47

Shrine, Aqua Regalia - Chapter Two, 2015
Escaping Fragility, Aqua Regalia - Chapter Two, 2015
Estamos Todos Los Que Cabemos, Harlem, 2015
Faith47 artwork.
The Taming of the Beasts, Shanghai, China. 2012

Faith47 (born Cape Town, 1979) is a South African artist who has held solo exhibitions in New York (2015),[1] London (2014)[2] and Johannesburg (2012).[3] Using a wide range of media, her approach is explorative and substrate appropriate – from found and rescued objects, to time-layered and history-textured city walls, to studio-prepared canvas and wood.[1]

Studio

Faith47’s first solo exhibition, Fragments of a Burnt History (2012, David Krut Gallery, Johannesburg), considered the transformation of Johannesburg into a more representative African city, exposing the harsh realities of day-to-day life and capturing the remnants of South Africa’s complex history in a personal and symbolic manner. Through the creation of an immersive environment in the gallery space, this work challenged the viewer’s detachment.[4]

Aqua Regalia - Chapter One (2014, Moniker Projects, London), further extended the possibilities of immersive spaces, enveloping the viewer into a sacred ‘room’ filled with collected objects and other intricacies from everyday life that – together with figurative paintings – explore the notion of the mundane as sacred, celebrating the discarded and unwanted as holy.[5]

"Aqua Regalia – Chapter Two" (2015, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York) was a continuation of this, again exploring the dichotomy between the sacred and the mundane by enveloping viewers in a space with figurative paintings, as well as intricacies from everyday life in shrine-like artworks. The two exhibitions were named after a highly corrosive mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid that has the ability to dissolve gold.[1]

Street

Following an active street art career spanning more than fifteen years, Faith47's work can now be found in major cities around the world.[6] Notable works include:

The Freedom Charter (South Africa, 2010)

Taking her inspiration from the old political slogans and stencils that were used during the struggle against apartheid, Faith47 brought to life sentences from the Freedom Charter document that she felt were still pressing in South Africa.[7]

The Taming of the Beasts (Shanghai, 2012)

Faith47 painted ghostly rhinos on Shanghai walls at a time when the number of rhinos being poached for their horns was rising rapidly to meet demand from Asia.[8]

The Long Wait (Johannesburg, 2012)

These murals, of groups of men in various postures of waiting, reference photographs from Alexia Webster’s photographic series, Waiting for Work.[9] The works imply different kinds of waiting particular to a contemporary South African context.

As Faith47 told Wooster Collective, “Miners are waiting for justice. Workers are waiting for a living wage. People are waiting for service delivery. Refugees are waiting for assistance. Men are waiting for jobs. We are all waiting for an honest politician. So many people are waiting for others to do things first. To take the blame. To do things for them. To take the fall. To build the country. To admit defeat. There has been so much waiting in this country that much time has been lost.”[9]

Harvest (Cape Town, 2014)

A partnership between Faith47, Design Indaba and ThingKing, the multi-story artwork lit up at night each time enough money was raised for one new light to be installed on a pathway in the informal settlement of Monwabisi Park, Khayelitsha, through the organisation VPUU (Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading). The intricate lighting pattern was an artistic endeavour that also served as a reminder that there were communities in the city that lack the luxury of light, which is a major public safety concern.[10]

The Psychic Power of Animals (New York, 2015)

With this series, Faith47 reintroduced the energy of nature back into the urban metropolis, softening the harsh city architecture with the gracefulness and spirit-like presence of swans. “There’s an inherent irony in recreating nature on cement, so the series is a nostalgic reminder of what we’ve lost but also an attempt to reintegrate that into the present,” Faith47 said. “We have become so distanced from nature, so these murals are an attempt to reconnect us with the natural world.”[11]

Estamos Todos Los Que Cabemos (Harlem, 2015)

Painted as part of the Monument Art NYC project's focus on immigration, Estamos Todos Los Que Cabemos speaks of the migratory patterns of birds, observing that nature ignores human borders on a map. “We forget that the dividing lines specifying countries were merely drawn by politically hungry men. In reality, the earth is open. There are no countries, no borders, it belongs to no one. We are transient visitors and should travel as we please," Faith47 told Arrested Motion.[12]

Reception

Faith47’s work has been featured everywhere from The Guardian[13] to The New York Times,[14][15] from Huffington Post[16] to The Independent.[16]

"Faith47 celebrates the commonplace as holy in an attempt to disarm strategies of global realpolitik and advance the expression of personal truth. In this way her work is both an internal and spiritual release that speaks to the complexities of the human condition, its deviant histories and existential search.” Juxtapoz[1]

"Using different mediums, including graphite, spray paint, oil paint, ink, photography and collage, she usually paints on found objects or discarded documents, transferring the feel of her mural works. The transparency of her mark making and the texture of finished works give them a sense of age and spirituality. Often mixing religious iconography with ordinary, everyday elements and geometrical objects, her paintings, drawings and sketches seem to have an almost sacramental importance.” Arrested Motion[2]

“A South African artist whose textured imagery brings spirituality and nature to the foreground of urban environments.” Huffington Post[16]

"A rare incantation of both the earthly and the transcendent." Mass Appeal[17]

"Transformative work... concerned with the valuation and transformation of things that have been lost or overlooked." Booooooom[18]

"Known for her use of existential symbolism to comment on nature and the human condition, specifically the struggle of many South Africans who grapple with injustice, poverty, and inequality.” Colossal[19]

“A national cult figure with a rapidly growing global prominence.” Financial Mail[20]

"Deeply profound visions existing as physical aesthetic gifts for other viewers." Supersonic Art[21]

"South Africa’s best loved street artist.” We Are Awesome[22]

"One of South Africa’s most unflinching and overtly political artistic voices." Mahala[23]

"Equally at home in grimy alleys as she is in a studio, she creates murals that are both breathtaking and poignant. I challenge anyone to look at her work and not feel a little overawed by her talent.” Carte Blanche[24]

Exhibition and Project History

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

Publications

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Faith47's New Exhibition "Aqua Regalia – Chapter Two"". Juxtapoz Magazine.
  2. 1 2 "Previews: Faith47 – “Aqua Regalia” @ Moniker Projects". ArrestedMotion.
  3. ↑ "Faith47 at David Krut Projects in November 2012". Artthrob.
  4. ↑ "Faith47". Design Indaba.
  5. ↑ "Moniker Projects Present: Faith47 'Aqua Regalia' (London, UK)". Brooklyn Street Art. 9 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "An interview with Artist Faith47". Instagrafite.
  7. ↑ "Fighting for freedom". Design Indaba.
  8. ↑ "Faith47, 'The Taming of the Beasts', Shanghai". Unurth.
  9. 1 2 "The Long Wait - by Faith47". Wooster Collective.
  10. ↑ "#ANOTHERLIGHTUP by Design Indaba Trust, Faith47 and Thingking". Design Indaba.
  11. ↑ "Faith47 In NYC". Visi.
  12. ↑ "Streets: Faith47 (New York)". ArrestedMotion.
  13. ↑ "The insider's guide to Johannesburg: 'Gold, blood, work, dance, faster'". The Guardian. 27 April 2015.
  14. ↑ "The Writing Is on the Wall". The New York Times. 28 May 2014.
  15. ↑ "In Brooklyn, a Protest Mural Draws Its Own Protest". The New York Times. 26 September 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 "10 Women Street Artists Who Are Better Than Banksy". The Huffington Post. 4 September 2014.
  17. ↑ Jamie Maleszka (18 November 2015). "Mass Appeal — Since '96". Mass Appeal.
  18. ↑ "Artist Spotlight: Faith47". Booooooom.
  19. ↑ "New Work by Faith47 on the Streets of London and Cape Town". Colossal.
  20. ↑ "Graffiti art: Faith47". Financial Mail.
  21. ↑ "Faith47′s “Aqua Regalia - Chapter Two” at Jonathan...". Supersonic Art.
  22. ↑ "Update: faith47 - we-are-awesome.". we-are-awesome..
  23. ↑ "Faith47 | We Close Our Eyes to Stay Blind". Mahala.
  24. ↑ "Faith47: When Walls Speak". Carte Blanche.

External links

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