“Care is a species of activity that includes everything we do to maintain, contain, and repair our world so that we can live in it as well as possible. That world includes our bodies, ourselves, and our environment, all of which we seek to interweave in a complex, life-sustaining web.”
Riette is an artist based in Stellenbosch South Arica and currently busy with her MA in Fine Art. Her art practice revolves around the ideas and concerns that she cares about most.
These include the emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being of humans and the reciprocal health of our environment.
The values driving her practice are deeply rooted in the interconnectedness of all life systems and the importance of Care towards self and others.
As I engaged in collaborative creation, using naturally foraged materials, incorporated them into themes of human experience, I felt that the term ‘sympoiesis’ aptly reflects my approach. The term sympoiesis was coined by Donna Haraway as a replacement term for the concept of autopoiesis, which Harraway objects to on the grounds that no ‘thing’ makes itself (autopoiesis referring to the process of self-production). Sympoiesis means ‘making-with’ or ‘collective creation’ (from Greek sún, together, and poíēsis, production). My practice seeks to bring this concept to life.
Please contact us with any inquiries.