ARTIST STATEMENT
Hannalie Taute is a multidisciplinary South African artist known for her
bold, tactile explorations of material, identity, and narrative. Her practice is driven by
a fascination with domestic mythology and the uneasy humour that arises when
sentimentality begins to fray. Working primarily with repurposed rubber inner tubes
and hand-stitched embroidery, Taute creates sculptural and wall-based works that
collide the industrial with the intimate. In her hands, rubber becomes skin, armour,
and theatre; embroidery becomes a subversive mark-making language that wounds,
repairs, and rewrites.
BIOGRAPHY:
Hannalie Taute (b. 1977) completed a National Higher Diploma in Fine Art at PE Technikon (now Nelson
Mandela University) in 2000. She held her debut solo exhibition, Siembamba – let’s
play pretend, at João Ferreira Gallery in 2004, and has since exhibited widely across
South Africa and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at
Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein (2025), MContemporary in Sydney, and Knysna
Fine Art (2024). Her first monographic solo exhibition, Mother.Monster.Stitch, curated by Karolien van Zyl, was hosted by Berman Contemporary – All Women gallery in Cape Town (2025/2026).
Her work has been featured at major art fairs including Investec Cape Town Art Fair, 2026), Sydney Contemporary (2022,2024, 2025), Positions Berlin (2022), AKAA Art Fair, Paris (2022), and Latitudes Art
Fair with Candice Berman Gallery. She received the Kanna Award for Best Visual Art
Production at the KKNK Arts Festival in 2014 for Rubber Ever After, and represented
South Africa at the Rijswijk Textile Biennale in the Netherlands in 2017.
Her work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the UNISA Art
Collection.
She lives and works in Riversdale, at the foot of the Sleeping Beauty mountain range
in the Western Cape.
Hannalie Taute is represented by Berman Contemporary (Cape Town) and MContemporary (Sydney).
Video introduction:
Selected Publications and Reviews
2022 Quantity of Movements publication by AKAA Art Fair
2022 Beaux Arts (AKAA, Hannalie Taute, Embroidery meets Photography)
2022 Inspirations Magazine “Burning Rubber” by Ansie van der Walt https://www.inspirationsstudios.com/burning-rubber/
2021 Artemorbida (Textile Art Magazine) April issue n03/2021) “Hannalie Taute: Stories of colours and shadows” by Elena Redaelli
2020 SA Art Times: No Holds Barred Artist Feature via RK Contemporary, December issue
2020 Textle Fiber Forum magazine: Issue 139 September
2018 De Arte, by Dr Theo Sonnekus: “Against Ordentlikheid Disobedient Femininities in Selected Embroideries by Hannalie Taute: “https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ASPCMTXBWDXGPTIRE5US/full?target=10.1080/00043389.2019.1631552
2016 House&Leisure online http://www.houseandleisure.co.za/decor/textile-artists-in-sa/
2015 MrXStitch: http://www.mrxstitch.com/the-cutting-stitching-edge-hannalie-taute/
2015 Dante Magazine, “A love affair with rubber by Heidi Rasch
2014 The Times Live: “Art spot, Rubber ever after” by Alexhander Matthews “http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2014/06/03/art-spot-rubber-ever-after
2012 South Magazine “Toys from Tyres” SOUTH magazine, by Janine Oelofse – Winter edition
To view a list of selected exhibitions click here.