Universiteit Stellenbosch University. BA Degree Show 2016

Artist list

Ann Ten Cate, Kutlwano Cele, Kerry Lee Stat, Lani Van Niekerk

Final-year students in the Department of Visual Arts work together closely to curate the annual GradEx Exhibition to showcase their work in celebration of their graduation.


Ann Ten Cate
Femininity can broadly be defined as a set of attributes which are typically associated with the condition of being female within a specific culture. Certain stereotypes have been created over the years and when one thinks of femininity, images such as pearls, lace, bows, flowers and the colour pink comes to mind. But who decides what should strictly be seen as male, and what remains female? We are conditioned by society, and especially through the media, that only narrow definitions of masculinity and femininity exist, and that there is a need to live up to these particular expectations. But since femininity encompasses such a variety of definitions and cannot be pinpointed to one single description, women are encouraged by postfeminism to define femininity for themselves – which is exactly what I aim to do when creating jewellery. Making use of shapes, colours and materials that ranges from girly to androgynous; my jewellery represents my own definition and view of what femininity means to me.


Kerry-Lee Patricia Boitumelo Statt
In "Blinded by Sight", Kerry-Lee decided to focus on making textural jewellery for the visually impaired community. This is a concept she developed by her own intrigue and inability to approach visually impaired individuals.

By placing focus on a common interest of visual and textural appeal through jewellery, Kerry-Lee has attempted to create a solution for the sighted to openly start an easier conversation with the non-sighted without the fear of offending the individual with a slight physiological difference.

Kerry-Lee uses the widely known expression "the eye is the window to the soul", with the ideology behind the saying that one can tell a lot about a person by looking at their eyes and expressions on their faces. For the visually impaired this ideology is lost to them, the eye has been viewed as a gel-like ball inside the head that creates sight. The non-sighted have grown up "seeing" the external world and other people with the remaining senses of touch, hearing, smell and taste. By focussing on the shapes and textures in the human eye, Kerry-Lee wants to suggest what this could feel like through her pieces. These jewellery pieces create a great opportunity for conversation between the two groups as well as create an opportunity to educate and create a sensual and meaningful experience.


Kutlwano Cele
Throughout Africa, the main traditional craft that has been practiced, and passed down from generation to generation is that of beading, beading in many cultures can be seen as a form of expression and a bodily adornment of beautification. Most popularly the beadworks that are produced within the Zulu culture, which are renowned for their dualistic functions as a mechanism of communication well as their ability to be aesthetically pleasing.

For my theme I have investigated traditional Zulu beadwork, specifically the ways in which the beaded jewellery objects are colour coded to form particular messages.
I Drew my inspiration from the different patterns as well as the different colours that are used to formulate these particular messages.

This semiotic concept of meaning making is what sparked my interest within this topic, by deconstructing the traditional aesthetics that can be found within traditional Zulu beaded jewellery. Through my practical body of work, I used the notion of deconstruction as a means to help me construct my own aesthetic while re interpreting the aesthetics used within traditional Zulu beadwork from a 21st century contemporary point of view.


Lani van Niekerk
My work is influenced by the Ecological Feminist (Ecofeminism) movement, especially the writings of Valerie Plumwood. Ecofeminist writers acknowledge the grouping of the categories of ‘woman’ and ‘nature’ due to the qualities that they have in common. These two categories stand in opposition to that of ‘man’ and are also dominated by it. Ecofeminism criticises the patriarchal system and strives to find a solution that promotes equality. Unlike other feminist movements, ecological feminism does not believe in placing woman in a man’s role. By doing this, one is in effect accepting the patriarchal structure as the absolute. Instead, ecofeminism goes to the root of the problem and questions the way in which gender identity has been shaped.

For my practical body of work, I aim to visually investigate the relationship between man and nature. According to Valerie Plumwood, human identities should be shaped within the framework of nature and culture. Yet, today, man is becoming more and more distanced from nature. I aim to investigate this relationship between humans and nature by emphasising a theme that is central to ecofeminism – humans are inherently a part/product of nature, therefore we cannot shape identity without considering nature as part of the self.

Jewellery is a medium that is worn in direct contact with the body, and is therefore a good platform for the connection of the human body and elements from nature. My jewellery pieces can be seen as a platform for the subversion of the notion of a life separate from nature. By reinterpreting shapes and textures found in nature, I aim to produce contemporary jewellery pieces that visually represent a link between the body and its natural environment. I aim to present jewellery as an identity-shaping object that is visually appealing. I am fascinated by shapes and textures in plants and fungi as well as natural materials and I draw on this visual research as inspiration for my jewellery.

Guiding Teachers:
Carine Terreblenche, Joani Groenewald