ARTIST'S STATEMENT

In my work I attempt to both unravel and knit together my experience of the domestic space and in more recent years my experience of motherhood.

 My work is situated in a space between multiple binaries: the comfortable and the awkward; the controlled and uncontrolled; the familiar and the strange; exteriority and interiority. It is in this strange space that I find myself exploring ideas around bodily autonomy, subjectivity, work, worth and taboo.

My materials are noticeably varied and reflect my interest in oppositions.  Repetitive, laborious acts which mimic the tedium of domestic chores, accidents, destruction and re-assembling all play an important role in how I explore my relationships within the domestic sphere and my role as a mother, a wife, a human being. The performative nature of my art making process often reflects the busyness of women’s-work to expose the constant labour of parenting, the time-consuming, seemingly endless repetition of trifling tasks that is required within a domestic setting.

Through the use of traditional oil painting, sculpture, watercolour, ceramics, photography and embroidery I try to lead the viewer towards an experience of my uncanny

About

Ilené Bothma is a Cape Town based multi-disciplinary artist. Her work starts with an idea, after which the medium follows, be it painting, textiles, sculpture, photography, or video. She revels in her exploration of notions around intimacy, family, grief, loss, and the human condition. She received a BA in Fine Art (with distinction) in 2003 and an MA in Fine Art in 2007 from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Bothma advanced her studies in England with a second MA in Fine Art (with distinction) in 2011 from Northumbria University in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom.

Ilené began exhibiting as a student. Her work has regularly featured in exhibitions locally and abroad since 2000. Bothma has had ten solo exhibitions in her career, with her work presented at both the Turbine Art Fair and Investec Cape Town Art Fair, including a solo booth at last year’s Turbine Art Fair.

Ilené has been a finalist in numerous national art competitions, with nominations in Sasol New Signatures 2007, Vuleka Art Competition 2012, and Barclays L’Atelier 2016. Her work forms part of private and public collections, including the M&C Saatchi Abel Art Collection and the Art Bank of South Africa. 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.