Talent

Jane-Alexander-2002_pssjwd.webp

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Jane Alexander

Biography

Alexander was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1959. She grew up in the peak of South African Apartheid in the early 1980s. Growing up during the time of apartheid in South Africa, Alexander was sheltered from the police and street violence of the time until she moved to Braamfotein, South Africa to be closer to her university. Apartheid – an Afrikaans word meaning “separateness” – was a system of racial segregation in South Africa that lasted from 1948-1994. Apartheid legislation created separate educational institutions based on a person’s skin color. Art instruction was included in the curriculum for whites, but not for blacks or Indians. In 1959, law decreed that only whites could undertake fine art training at universities or tech schools. In the late 1970s, art had to choose to focus on form over content or combating apartheid through art. From 1985-1989 – during States of Emergency – white artists like Alexander had greater liberties to challenge apartheid and bring awareness to the rest of the world through their art. Her interest in these issues influenced her subsequent installations and art pieces. Inspired early on in her career by the figurative works of George Segal, Ed and Nancy Kienholz, Duane Hanson, and David Goldblatt. Alexander attended the University of the Witwatersrand, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Arts in Fine Arts in 1982 and 1988. Currently, she is senior lecturer of sculpture, photography and Drawing at Michaelis school of fine art in Cape Town where she has taught since 1998.

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

2020 Anne Pata Memorial Drawing Prize (NAS); 2020 Barnes Sculpture Prize (NAS); 2021 Finalist Adelaide Perry Art Prize; 2021 Finalist Vincent Prize; 2021 Finalist Waverly Printmaking Prize; 2021 Finalist Flow National Watercolour Prize Wollongong Art Gallery; 2022 Finalist Bermagui Sculpture Prize

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