Artist depicts strength of women
Aviva Maree is a self-taught South African painter living in Knysna. She depicts the inner strength and hope of rural women going about their everyday work.
She prefers to portray women as she admires how they appear to work with pride, contentment and the inner strength to survive and provide for their children no matter the circumstances.
In the past, she painted women with more specific African features, but these current women no longer belong to any particular ethnic group. The emphasis is on being a woman and this universality gives her work a timeless quality.
She aims to capture the flowing movement and posture of the women going about their day. She has a vibrant use of colour, bold brushstroke and captures the light of the moment. She makes use of symbols such as flowers, fish, fruit, buckets, baskets, coats and shoulder bags.
The flowers in Shamila’s Secret, oil on canvas, 60 x 50cm, are proteas. The plant is hardy and even grows back after fire, and Aviva explains that as such they are much like her women.
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Source: Knysna Plett Herald News