Unexplored mediums for local artist
JOHANNESBURG – There are those who like to get dirty in their line of business, but very few who enjoy doing it for their passion.
Local artist Tanisha Bhana is one of those few and it reflects beautifully in her art.
She openly admits to living two very different lives. By day, Bhana is a derivatives lawyer and crunches numbers at a desk. However, when the clock strikes for close of business, Bhana jumps right into what she loves the most – her art.
She recently exhibited a few of her works at an exhibition held at Constitution Hill which was entitled Between Democracies 1989 – 2014: Commemoration and Memory.
Now she is moving into unexplored mediums, sculpture and photography, and she revealed her inspirations to City Buzz.
“I really like spending time amongst portions of society that one often doesn’t get the chance to know,” she explained. She considers herself to be an observer and tries to integrate herself into sectors of society that she doesn’t understand so she can explain it to others. For example, the informal recyclers who patrol the streets with their trollies, and even the country’s sex workers.
“Quite a lot of my projects involve land spaces that are occupied by people that form part of society that are misunderstood or unwanted, but needed. They have societies and communities amongst themselves that exist, that are actually a part of the value chain of society, that serve and service us, and I found it fascinating to find the common humanity in them.”
When we say she gets down and dirty, we mean it. Bhana will often visit abandoned spaces and even landfills to collect discarded things to use in her art. Right now, she’s breaking down the things she’s collected to use in her sculpture work. She explained that she was trying to make resin, organic matter and concrete work together, but she was struggling to make them ‘become friends’.
“My intention is to combine these components with the organic material to express the relationship that we have with the things we use. It’s a very meditative process for me,” she laughed.
“I think it’s always good for humankind to be open to different perspectives, and I think the role of some artists, even myself, is to share my perspective with others.”
Details: www.tanishabhana.com
