Contemplating the saintly figures that form the bulk of the exhibition Cultus, the viewer may never guess that Claude Jammet is, by her own confession, not “gifted with faith”.
The exhibition at Circa on Jellicoe features scenes, saints and stories associated primarily with Catholicism and all its pomp and ceremony – but with all the tenderness and frailty of human beings.
“It is my interest in the religious subjects in the history of art that was the spark for this exhibition,” said Jammet.
“My religious education has simply enabled me to appreciate and understand the various interpretations by the great masters.”
Jammet, born to French parents in then-Rhodesia, grew up and was educated at convent schools in Kenya, India and Japan.
She moved to South Africa at the age of 19, and here began her career as a painter.
The self-taught artist said her earliest recollections go back to play school at the Loreto Convent in Kenya.
A “non-believer” choosing to tackle religious subject matter could run the risk of upsetting “believers” through interpretations that could be considered “blasphemous”.
Speaking about how she avoided the offensive, Jammet said that it would be presumptuous of her to attempt to paint the Divine.
“I approached these stories purely from the human and, hopefully, [a] new feminine angle, and, as such, don’t think these paintings are irreverent or offend anyone’s religion,” she said.
Among the works in this series are those that offer a glimpse at rituals of initiation or atonement.
When asked if she felt the rituals of the church still have a place in the modern world, Jammet said that she wasn’t fortunate enough to have had the “experience of faith” and so wasn’t qualified to comment on the “validity of the church”.
“Faith is such a personal thing, and is not necessarily connected to a creed,” she said.
“I can only rejoice for those who have it and hope that those of us who don’t won’t be discarded as ‘godless’.”
Jammet has lived and worked in Italy since 2001.
Cultus is at Circa on Jellicoe, 2 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, until 28 June.
Details: 011 788 4805; www.circaonjellicoe.co.za
