BIOGRAPHY

Hannalie Taute (b. 1977) started her life’s journey in a small town called Fochville, (Gauteng) South Africa.

In 2000, Taute obtained a National Higher Diploma in Fine Art at PE Technicon (now the NNMU). Eight years ago, she started working with rubber and particularly repurposed rubber inner-tubes and in 2012 she added embroidery to her list of preferred media.

Her first solo exhibition called: “Siembamba- let’s play pretend” in 2004 was held at the Joao Ferreira Gallery in Cape Town. Since 2004 she was involved in several group and solo exhibitions. Her recent solo exhibition (2020) was presented in Sydney, Australia, by MContemporary gallery.

Taute was a finalist in 2004 for the ABSA l’Atelier exhibition and a nominee for the Fiesta award in 2012 and 2015 and 2017. She received the Kanna-award for best visual art production at the 2014 KKNK art festival for her solo exhibition called: “Rubber ever after”. In 2017 she represented South Africa at the Museum Rijswijk Textile Biennale in the Netherlands.

Her work can be found in various private collections as well as the academic collection of UNISA. She currently lives and works in Riversdale, Western Cape.

Rubber

ARTIST STATEMENT

Taute’s work is in a constant state of evolution, which in itself mirrors many of the ideas behind her art. Her process is methodical and laborious. The work depicts moments in time – capturing instances in which a non-traditional medium (in this case rubber) undergo a violent process of change.  She juxtapose delicate cotton thread with industrial discarded inner tubes by embroidering items that can decay, such as flowers and flesh, with moments of violent disruption.  The resulting organized chaos resembles our daily lives and external influences.  One central theme or unifying characteristic is the repeated exploration of identity and/or relationships within her “paracosmic fantasy”.

She explores this concept by means in which people often have many and sometimes conflicting, identities to which they answer to. “Art is some sort of interesting area where dysfunction is allowed.”* This is perhaps most striking in the more recent work, ranging from figurative, and hybrid toy-like creatures to a variety of portraits as well as larger floral arrangements embroidered on rubber.

Characteristic of her work is the use of recycled inner tubes with embroidered thread with which she is continuing to create a “paracosm” as a way of orienting herself in reality.  The coarseness of the rubber is counteracted by the delicacy of the thread, but this is subverted, as often the stitching and composition of the rubber inner tubes are delicate and the thread seems almost rough in its arrangement.  Taute wants the medium of the piece to interact with the subject manner in a way that forces the viewer to deeply engage and question with the art-works, and she aims to create a moment of respite from the chaos while simultaneously depicting it.

To view a list of selected exhibitions click here.