Anushka Kempken

Mixed Media on Woven Fabriano Painting "Crossing the Threshold"

2021

Anushka Kempken is an upcoming Cape Town based artist and holds an Honours degree in Fine Art. She explores different ways of manipulating surface materials through weaving techniques, creating ambiguity and depth. Anushka sees her work as a continuation of the organic harmony seen in nature and life. Her art making process is a series of intuitive decisions that result in a chaos and harmony of individual stories that come together. A process of chaos and order. To make her weavings she paints several artworks on paper before cutting them up to recreate a final image. In a series of artworks one can see that the weavings all carry parts of each other. It is in the repetitive motion of cutting and weaving that Anushka discovers a meditative space, through which the very tactile experience loses shape and form. This allows her to be part of the creative unfolding rather than directing its course. Each rectangle of weaving carries its own story and details, but viewed from afar they merge into one harmonious image. This is synonymous of our human experience, where our daily lives are busy and chaotic and only by stepping back and detaching from the mind, we discover the harmony.