Art and Gin? Yes, please

Musgrave Spirits known as one of the first pioneers of local craft gins in South Africa and its signature Musgrave Pink has partnered with Cape Town artist Jasmine Jagger.

Founder of Musgrave gin Simone Musgrave explained how this collaboration blossomed. Jagger made a painting titled “strip rose” on one of its bottles as a gift for a friend. Musgrave loved it so much she thought a limited edition with a Jagger creation would be a perfect fit.

Titled Eleven basically “art on a bottle”, the art collection is showing at Candice Berman Gallery in Bryanston, Johannesburg.

The partnership is about the reflection of the Covid-19 lockdowns, how the pandemic affects all of us and story telling about many tales.

For Jagger it is almost an opportunity for healing. Her art collection is emotive, it tackles substance abuse, dynamics in families using different childhood and current traumas and stories to depict what she and others have gone through.

 

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She explains in one of the paintings her biological father’s history and how that led him to a cough syrup addiction.

“I hadn’t seen my father since I was 18. He was one of five kids, he had a lot going for him and that’s why my grandfather was hard on him.”

She further says she only found out this information in December last year. The pressures of being a star athlete were too much, her father would break his own arm to essentially stop playing sports again.

“This lead to a very dark hole, he’s still today addicted to cough syrup, ” she says. This is why the collection is crucial for Jasmine. “It is important to connect with your past, present and with other people’s past.”

The whole art series was done in 2020 during the lockdown as she connected with people around her.

Jagger was inspired by what they had shared with her. “I did a lot of self-healing and through other people’s stories, they healed as well. It is imperative to take the time to reflect and that is what kind of happened for me.”

 

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For Simone, working with Jagger was very much an aspect of supporting female entrepreneurs. The limited edition can be purchased at selected Blue Bottle Liquor outlets.

The gin market in SA has become very competitive and saturated. As a businesswoman, Simone says as Musgrave was one of the first in the market locally, consumers are well aware of it and loyal to good quality craft gins.

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“Our quality is still the same, we have always created this sort of luxury aspirational product.”

She is looking at venturing into other spirits such as its Copper Brandy end of 2019.  The brandy is infused with black honey and vanilla.

The Jasmine Jagger art exhibition can be viewed at the Candice Berman Gallery in Johannesburg.