BA/FA

 

Willemien is a multi-disciplinary artist who mainly uses needle and thread to create visual narratives that explore current feminist themes.

 

Other mediums include painting (oil on canvas) and ceramics.

 

Her work is exhibited widely in South Africa.

 

She is a published author of two novels – Kitchen Casualties (Jacana, 2003) and Virgin in the Treehouse (Jacana, 2007) as well as several short stories.

 

She lives and works in Muizenberg, Cape Town.

 

Links to articles, publications and interviews:

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https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article_tag/willemien-de-villiers/

 

https://thamesandhudson.com/threads-contemporary-embroidered-art-9780500295458

 

https://www.textileartist.org/willemien-de-villiers-observer-fringe

 

https://www.textileartist.org/willemien-de-villiers-from-conception-to-creation

 

https://www.textileartist.org/artistic-power-applique

 

https://www.artemorbida.com/intervista-con-willemien-de-villiers/?lang=en

 

https://www.artemorbida.com/intervista-con-willemien-de-villiers/?lang=en

 

Work included in the following publications:

 

De Fil en Aiguille: La broderie dans l’art contemporain by Charlotte Vannier | PYRAMYD 2018

 

Threads: Contemporary Embroidered Art by Charlotte Vannier | THAMES & HUDSON 2019

 

Craft Art in South Africa: Creative intersections by Elbé Coetsee |JONATHAN BALL PUBLISHERS

 

Stitch-Illo: Creative expressions through thread and textiles | UPPERCASE MAGAZINE

 

 

Artist Statement

 

A major theme of my stitched textile work is an intimate and personal investigation of patriarchy and toxic masculinity as a contributing factor in domestic violence, while at the same time celebrating the innate, fecund and deeply creative qualities of female-ness. My lifelong obsession with the interconnection of all living things, especially in evidence when comparing the morphology of flowering plants with the reproductive cycles and organs of mammals, is a constant inspiration.

 

By (ab)using old and often stained domestic textiles like vintage tea tray cloths (whose printed motifs more than hint at bucolic domesticity), I transcend and subvert the traditional idea of embroidery as women’s work.

 

My current body of work looks at the all-pervasive and often invisible pressure on specifically women to do better, strive harder, be more competitive and ambitious, in order to fit into the male-oriented view of society. The working title for this new body of work is Try Harder.

 

I’m aiming to create a highly textured mapping of failure; to create small visual representations of not-good-enough –  a visceral attempt to reclaim the messy and often disorderly terrain that is an integral part of being female. 

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