Talitha Els About Talitha Els | Art.co.za | Art in South Africa
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ABOUT TALITHA

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Talitha 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:

  • 2016 M-Tech Fine Art (Cum Laude) – Tshwane University of Technology
  • 2011 B-Tech Fine Art (Cum Laude) – Tshwane University of Technology
  • 2003 NDip Fine Art – Vaal University of Technology

Awards:

  • 2023 Top 40 Sanlam Portrait Awards
  • 2012 ABSA L’Atelier regional finalist

Teaching career:

  • 2021 – to date: 1st yr guardian, Drawing subject coordinator & lecturer, Tshwane University of Technology
  • 2015 – 2021: Lecturer, Tshwane University of Technology

Exhibitions:

  • 2024
    • Wêreld SA Art Fair, Kleinvalleij estate, Cape Town
    • Wêreld SA Art Fair, Open Window Academy, Pretoria
    • Three more ladies, Trent Gallery, Pretoria
  • 2023 - 2024 Sanlam Top 40 portrait awards (Touring exhibition):
    • Sept – Nov 2023: Rust-de-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town
    • Nov 2023 – Jan 2024: Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
    • Feb – April 2024: KZNSA Gallery, Durban
    • July 2024: University of the Free State Art Gallery, Bloemfontein - part of Vrystaat Kunstefees (Free state Arts Festival)
  • 2023
    • Lensculture Art Photography Awards 2024 competition gallery (editor’s pick), online exhibition.
    • Groot voël, Trent Gallery, Pretoria
  • 2018
    • Individual voices, Artbox gallery, Pretoria
  • 2016
    • Art(Ed.), Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria
    • Feeling Blue (M-Tech solo exhibition), TUT Gallery, Pretoria
    • 3 for 1, New Heritage Gallery, Cape Town
  • 2012
    • Out of the box, Front room Art Gallery, Pretoria
    • Every other day, Karoo Café, Pretoria
    • Getting there, Kievitskroon, Pretoria
    • B-Tech graduation exhibition, UNISA Gallery, Pretoria
    • ABSA L’Atelier regional finalist exhibition, Association of Arts Gallery, Pretoria
    • ABSA L/Atelier 2012, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg
    • As seen on TV, Sibisi Gallery, Johannesburg

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”
zinio.com/za/publications/food-home-entertaining/1569/issues/307

CATALOGUES:

Art Times October 2023
l'atelier ABSA Africa - 2012 catalogue


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