Joani Groenewald

Statement

Joani views contemporary jewellery as a medium through which one can critically reflect upon one’s social and political environment. Her research interests are memory studies and narrative specifically in relation to a South African context. She continues to make art that feeds to and from these research interests. Her art questions the stability of memory and narrative while also challenging the traditional function of jewellery.
In her more recent work, she takes a satirical stance against popular-culture and consumer culture as an experienced form within a South African context.
In her latest series of works entitled The Seven Deadly Seductions she is Inspired by the religious concept of the seven deadly sins. In this series, she humorously challenges the seductiveness of unethical behaviour, especially within the framework of the current South African political environment. The pieces are personal interpretations and abstractions of form, material and colour, which takes a satirical stance against popular culture and the consumer oriented lifestyle that so many South Africans have become accustom to. They portray negative character traits as jewels, which confront the meaning of status symbols. The work challenges perceptions through the influential symbolic power of jewellery, specifically as a means to communicate identity and social status.  
 

CV