LAUREN SHANTALL

Akin to the indoor plant movement prevalent in the 1970s, linked to the rise of Organicism as a lifestyle philosophy, today’s homes have brought even more plants indoors, in a more directed way, than ever. Social Media abounds with botanical styling, numerous pot plant #tags and masterclasses on how to style your plant babies for the urban jungles of now. In this we can read so many things - reverence for nature, heightened awareness of greening and green issues, the place for plant therapy as an antidote to digital disconnection, and the need to express care and nurture growth and positivity.

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These paintings embrace all of this – from observing the macro trend to participating in it, and depicting a family of “plant babies” at home. In these images, plants are expressively portrayed in both faithful and abstracted versions of themselves. Colour is a device that denotes joy, and marks that (im)perceptible surge of love that occurs when the subtle connections between living things - between plant person and human person, between parent and plant baby, between growing person and plant teacher – are recognised and honoured.

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Born in Durban, Lauren Shantall has lived in Cape Town since 1995. She works full-time in communications and devotes time to painting whenever she can. She lives in Fish Hoek with her husband and their son, four dogs, many goldfish and a cat. Their house is full of plants.

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Lauren studied art up to matric and was jointly awarded the school art prize in her final year. After school, she went on to study English but has always pursued her interest in art both as an arts and culture journalist and as an art-maker. Over the years, she has taken live drawing classes with Clare Menck, painting classes with Diana Page, and joined a regular painting group with friends. From September 2018 to February 2022, she took weekly creativity classes with Sue Kaplan.

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Lauren has a small studio space at home. Acrylics on canvas is her preferred medium. Her paintings reveal an ongoing fascination for the natural world, specifically plants and flowers. She has been exhibiting regularly since 2022 and was a finalist in London’s Brick Lane Gallery Open Call.