ARTIST'S STATEMENT
As an artist, I attempt to both unravel and knit together my personal experiences of multiple binaries and oppositions. My work delves into concepts of intimacy, family, grief, loss, and the human condition, often situated within the domestic sphere and motherhood. I find myself working across various mediums, including traditional oil painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, embroidery, and video, often reflecting my fascination with opposing forces.
Through laborious acts that mimic domestic chores and the mundane as well as the use of accidents, destruction, and re-assembling, I investigate the complexities of relationships. Through intuitive making processes I explore ideas around bodily autonomy, subjectivity, work, worth and taboo. My role as a woman and mother plays a central role in my practice. I further incorporate performative elements into my artmaking process, mirroring the busyness of women's work and highlighting the ongoing labor of parenting.
Lately, I have been expanding my focus to explore the role of the women once her socially ordained role of reproduction has been fulfilled and the aging process becomes more visible. These intricate nuances of a woman’s place in life, together with the end of my marriage, have led to a process of making that is simultaneously performative, painful, therapeutic, and empowering.
About
Ilené Bothma is a multidisciplinary artist based in Cape Town. Her work is concept-driven, with ideas determining the medium, ranging from painting and textiles to sculpture, photography, and video. Through her practice, she explores themes of intimacy, family, grief, loss, and the human condition.
She holds a BA in Fine Art (2003) and an MA in Fine Art (2007) from Stellenbosch University, as well as a second MA in Fine Art (2011, with distinction) from Northumbria University in the UK. Bothma began exhibiting as a student and has consistently shown her work in both local and international exhibitions since 2000.
She has held twelve solo exhibitions and participated in major art fairs, including a solo booth at the Turbine Art Fair and presentations at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair. Her work is included in private and public collections such as the M&C Saatchi Abel Art Collection, Spier Arts Trust and Art Bank of South Africa. Bothma has been a finalist in several national art competitions, including Sasol New Signatures (2007), Vuleka Art Competition (2012), and Barclays L’Atelier (2016). An article written about her practice titled, Stitching And Unpicking Ambivalence Toward Womanhood And Maternity In Works By Ilené Bothma, by Irene Bronner, senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, provides an in-depth overview of various aspects of Ilené‘s art practice thus far.