I love pictures, from The Beano comic to the Sistine Chapel, Ed Wood to Terence Malick and everything in between that pings my heart. I wish I could do it all, but I honed in on photography as it was the perfect medium to achieve the unconventional life and escape I craved growing up in the deep south of Johannesburg. Over the past 39 years, I've shot on all seven continents, a dream fulfilled.
I met Etienne in Steytlerville at the home of the renowned South African artist ZaK de Villiers. Zak is Etienne's brother and a good friend of mine. Once I was back home, I noticed Etienne's drawings on Instagram; until then, I thought he was primarily a filmmaker, not realising he was transitioning into the art world.
Etienne's colour palette and texture first attracted me to his drawings. At a later stage, I started noticing a similar thread running through our two bodies of work.
I spent my first quarter of life drawing, that is, until one evening, I was handed a camera to tinker with. Etienne's drawings inspire me to hopefully one day return to my roots and sharpen my pencils again.
Although Guy and I have never journeyed together, we must have travelled the same paths over the years, being drawn to, looked at and intrigued by similar things – I focused on layering and Guy on juxtaposing those experiences in our work. Now, by placing our images next to one another, we have started a new journey. I only met Guy recently, but his work immediately resonated with me – I get it, I feel at home there.
“I love telling stories, whether in film or on paper. My drawings – slices in time, place and space – compel the viewer to use their own experience and memory to explore and connect the different visual layers in each drawing.”