LOCAL ARTIST Haidee Nel
The story she is telling is that of her own experiences of growing, failing, healing, seeing and learning..
Haidee Nel is a dedicated contemporary African sculptor, installation artist as well as performance artist and fashion enthusiast, who currently lives and works in the small town of Swellendam, Western Cape, South Africa.
Being a mother of two young girls she decided to raise her children as close to nature as possible where it was still possible for the children to go to school barefoot.
She states that her children and nature are her muses in her artistic work. The closed eyed and barefoot child is currently one of Nel’s signature traits. She sees herself as a warrior of life honouring the inner child, innocence, love and nature. Through her creative work she becomes a voice to the silenced. The story she is telling is that of her won experiences of growing, failing, healing, seeing and learning, seeking questions and answers to conscious awareness and the essence of the true self and the relationship with her inner child. Her sculptures are mostly in wood, cement, fabric and resin and she enjoys playing with colour and texture, to create figurative doll like sculptures. It results in an assemblage of curious figures and narrates theories on the human condition. Nel’s work is monumental to the child self.
She received a BFA Honours Degree from the University of Cape Town, Michael’s School of Fine Art with the ‘Dean’s Merit List Award’ for academic performance, Her Master’s degree is currently pending. She has participated in over 80 group shows and 3 major solo exhibitions, mainly in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. In the past 5 years she participated in major art fairs such as Cape Town Art Fair, Joburg Art Fair, AKAA Art Fair Paris, Turbine Art Fair, That Art Fair (African Art Fair Cape Town) as well as being selected as participating artist at KKNK art Festival, Aardklop Art Festival, Woordfees Art Festival Stellenbosch South Africa. Nel’s artwork can be found in Private and Corporate Collections, some of which are Salol Collection and Spier Collection. Currently Nel is participating in a yearlong group public sculpture installation, Fyn Arts Hermanus.
