Elmari Steyn

Born Namibia, South Africa.

‘My ongoing printmaking project explores the interaction we allow ourselves with nature through trees, especially unusual, expressive and characterful trees, even misshapen trees. I knew of a secret place, an old house amongst the trees. I knew the wise soul who lived there; he healed the soil and planted his trees, herbs and yearly garlic. He remembered another life, lived in old lands, and recounted parts in fragments. He said his Wife’s dress was cut from the night-skies fabric. He said the wind asked the leaves to dance, that Summer’s heat gave Autumn’s colours; he said that Winter’s frost drew lines with trunks and branches. He said the House was back to front; it was.’