Berni Searle
Berni Searle (7 July 1964[1]) is a South African artist who works with photography, video, and film to produce lens-based installations that stage narratives connected to history, memory, and place. Often politically and socially engaged, her work also draws on the universal emotions associated with vulnerability, loss and beauty.
Berni Searle lives and works in Cape Town and is currently Associate Professor at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town.
Education
Searle received her BA in Fine Art in 1987 and a postgraduate diploma in Education in 1988 from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. She registered for the master's degree in sculpture in 1992 and proceeded to graduate in 1995 with a Master of Arts in Fine Arts in 1995, also from the Michaelis School.[2]
Awards
- Rockefeller Bellagio Creative Arts Fellow (2014)
- Standard Bank Young Artist Award (2003)
- Civitella Ranieri Fellowship (2001)
- Minister of Culture prize at the Dak’art Biennale (2000)
- UNESCO award (1998)[1]
Nominations and shortlists
- FNB VITA Art Award (2000)[1]
- Daimler-Chrysler Award for South African Contemporary Art (2000)
- Artes Mundi award (2004)
Select Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
- 2013 "Refuge" La Galerie Particuliere, Paris, France
- 2012 "Black Smoke Rising Trilogy" Ron Mandos gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2011 "Shimmer" Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town
- 2011 "Interlaced" De Hallen, the Belfry Tower, Bruges; Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem (MMKA), Arnhem, the Netherlands; Frac Lorraine, Metz, France (featuring new commissioned work)
Group Exhibitions
- 2015 "Distance and Desire: Encounters with the African Archive" The Walther Collection, Ulm, Germany. Curated by Tamar Garb
- 2014 "Earth Matters" National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Washington DC, USA
- 2014 "Public Intimacy. Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa" Yerba Buena Center with the Arts in conjunction with SFMOMA. San Francisco, USA
- 2013 "Terminal. As part of the program LAND" Various locations across the City of Cape Town. Organized by GIPCA, curated by Jean Brundrit and Svea Josephy and Adrienne van Eeden Wharton
- 2012 "The Human Condition" Bradbury Gallery, State University, Arkansas, USA
Recent group exhibitions include Figures and Fictions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, She Devil at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO), The Dissolve. SITE Santa Fe, 8th International Biennial, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York. She has participated in the 2nd Johannesburg Biennale (1997) and the Venice Biennales of 2001 and 2005. She received the Minister of Culture Prize at the 2000 Dakar Biennale and the UNESCO/AICA Award at the 1998 Cairo Biennale.
References
- 1 2 3 Williamson, Sue. "Artbio - Berni Searle". artthrob - Issue No. 33, May 2000. artthrob. Retrieved 14 August 2010.
- ↑ Van Der Watt, Liese. "Tracing Berni Searle." African Arts 37:4 (Winter 2004): 74-79.
Bibliography
Perryer, Sophie (2004). 10 Years 100 Artists: Art In A Democratic South Africa. Cape Town: Struik. ISBN 1868729877.