When we explore the environments that enrich our personalities with a variety of experiences, this includes the nature that is adapting to our occupation and manipulation of spaces. Evidently, birds often give a geological identity with all their diversity.

They also navigate spaces where other wildlife often can’t access and yet live harmoniously among our foreign structures. They are symbolic of resilience, adaptability, diversity and uniqueness in a region. Much like the diverse cultures coexisting in a city.

Robyn Pretorius (1988 -) explores likeness, visual interpretation, and storytelling in her portraiture. She wishes to convey a celebration of diversity and identity.

Inspired by the different personalities that surround her, her creative process employs experimentation with a range of mark-making media to express a visual interpretation of the muse and the unique stories these encounters bring.

Central to this process is the realistic rendering of the human form with contemporary motifs. She is driven by the belief that the more we celebrate differences in experience, the more we feel connected.

Born in Belhar, Cape Town, Pretorius started her art journey at a young age. When she was awarded “Artist of the Month” by Radisson Red in Cape Town it opened up new opportunities for her.

Her work was selected for the top 100 portraits in the Sanlam Portrait Awards in 2017. She has collaborated with several local brands and attended her first residency at Glo’art in Belgium (2018).

Pretorius has participated in numerous group exhibitions locally and abroad – notably Knoop/Knot: Louis & Friends, GUS, Gallery University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town in 2020.