ABOUT TALITHATalitha Els, born in 1982 in Pretoria, South Africa, is a practicing visual artist and art lecturer. Talitha Els is currently resides in Centurion and teaches at Tshwane University of Technology. Els graduated top of her class for all her major qualifications, earning above 85% for her M-Tech Fine Art degree. In her dissertation, Photographs that Wound: Trauma and Liminality in the 'Photo-Theatre' of Sally Mann and Joel-Peter Witkin (2016), she explores how photographs can initially impact viewers on a visceral level, bypassing immediate conscious thought, and eventually prompt profound contemplation and understanding. Based on this research, Els co-authored an article that was published in the South African Journal of Art History in 2019 titled Photographs that wound – Sally Mann’s immediate family. As an artist Els has achieved recognition as a finalist in prestigious national art competitions such as ABSA L’Atelier and the Sanlam Portrait Awards. While Els considers herself a multi-disciplinary artist, often working in conventional art disciplines such as painting and drawing, her preferred medium is cyanotypes. Her cyanotypes are often recognised by the distinct blue and yellow hues and mood evoked through her manipulation of the cyanotype process. She frequently builds up large artworks from smaller sheets of paper, creating a distinct “fragmented look” to the work which contributes to its layered meaning. Curious by nature, Els is continuously pushing the boundaries of this photographic medium, creating painterly effects and layered exposures. Recurring themes found in Els’s work explore the human condition through a dystopian lens – mortality, trauma, fear, and regret. The artist often expresses these themes through the female form, which acts as a stand-in for the artist herself and investigates her experiences and memories as a girl, a woman, and a mother, and how those experiences echo throughout our lives and the lives of our daughters. Els carefully layers her work with meaning, yet it is often in the uncomfortable stillness within her artworks that the viewer finds a personal connection.
Artists CV Qualifications:
Awards:
Teaching career:
Exhibitions:
PUBLICATIONS:
Els, T., Moodley-Diar, N., Scheffer, A., “Photographs that wound – Sally Mann’s Immediate family”, SAJAH, vol. 34, no. 1, 2019, pp. 35 – 55.
journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC-1f5ea73e2a
PRESS:
Food & Home magazine, Sept. 2014 Heritage issue “Top 10 SA artists”
CATALOGUES:
Art Times October 2023
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Website of South African Artists |
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