Tharien Smith

Tharien Smith is a visual artist based in Cape Town with experience in textiles, fashion, furniture, ceramics and painting. Her oeuvre encompasses multiple mediums and is tied together by a sensitivity towards the power, and sufferings, of woman, the beauty of nature, and the emotive strength of creativity.

She graduated with a National Textile Diploma for TUT, and since has worked in various creative commercial environments, particularly with relation to interior design. Tharien is busy building her own range of products, which includes, jewellery, cushions and hand painted fabrics.

“There isn't a manual to being an artist, and there isn't a manual for being alive. Obstacles and challenges throughout life are inevitable. For me being creative means taking risks and ignoring doubt and facing my fears.

We think with our hands as much as our brains. Creating is a type of meditation, an active training of the mind that increase awareness and emphasizes acceptance of feelings and thoughts without judgment and relaxation of body and mind.

In this series of work I explore and celebrate women, our sexuality, sensuality and complexity. I am exploring the depth of emotion experienced in our lives. The need to compete with magazine stereotypes, love and break ups, dodging bullies & the increasing awareness of the male gaze. The pressures of conforming to try and fit in or not....I express myself through my art, it is in many aspects an extension of who I am.

I am an observer, giving the viewer a ‘slice of life’ be it an emotion, a situation or a moment in time.”