Jacques Dhont was born in the Congo in 1959. His parents moved to South Africa in 1967 and settled in Somerset-West. After studying painting at the University of Stellenbosch, he completed a double major in painting and sculpture at the Michaelis School of Fine Art (UCT) in 1989.

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Soon after completing his degree, Jacques moved to the Overberg region where he could work close to nature, living in abandoned farmhouses without electricity or running water. It was here that he first started experimenting with the creation of sculptures using woven wattle bark. (The black wattle is an alien and invasive tree species which used to grow in forests on the banks of the Riviersonderend.) Jacques mastered the weaving technique and developed what is now his signature aesthetic – combining bark, brass, bronze and recreated found objects to create sculptural figures. Jacques has also been experimenting with new media, particularly stone and bronze.

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For the past couple years Jacques has been living within the beautiful Klein Drakenstein Mountains in Paarl, where he is learning to juggle his art and helping to care for his lively young children.

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