Dates: 12 Mar – 3 Apr 2019

To Ilse Nieman, cutting paper is, like fire, an act of destruction.

Fire is one of nature’s most feared and devastating destructive forces, but it is an integral part of the evolutionary process. Many of the Western Cape fynbos species in fact rely on periodic veld fires to ensure germination.

Cutting paper is also an act of destruction, but cutting the sheet of paper transforms it into an image and therefore something new.

Paper is frail and by cutting parts away, it becomes even more frail. The cut paper sheet relies on the remaining fragile parts, joined to each other as it transforms into the final stencil image.

To her, paper is not merely a metaphor in the cycle of life, but also a paradox in creating fantasies in stimulating the human imagination through destruction and damage.