Born in 1980, Heidelberg, Gauteng Province (South Africa)
EDUCATION
1998 Matriculated, Johannesburg.
1999 Studied painting and printmaking, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria.
CAREER
2003 Entered the film industry as a scenic painter and faux artist, Cape Town.
2007 Entered the sculpting industry in association with Jupiter Studios Foundry, Stellenbosch.
Talitha Deetlefs is a self-taught sculptor who discovered art as a form of self-expression in her early years. She could easily be found creating mud sculptures by the Vaaldam while her father went fishing. She attended Tshwane University of Technology expecting to become a painter, but her time working in the film industry as a faux fabricator rekindled her interest in sculpture.
Deetlefs accepted a position at an art foundry where she became familiar with all aspects of sculpture creation. Her body of work was well received when she started in 2009 and her work can now be seen in selected galleries and collections worldwide.
She has focused predominantly on the female form as her subject, and she has created a collection of striking figures embodying the multi-faceted feminine identity.
She explores the ways in which our identities as woman are formed by our personal and collective history, and how it relates to the notions of femininity expressed in modern society. Her work is inspired by mythology and the symbolic language; by the ways in which it can enrich our lives, enabling us to transcend popular culture and reveal our own beauty.
Working with images originating in the unconscious, Deetlefs creates female forms which are clothed in layers of sheets of metal. Some designs involve strips of metal applied in the concentric bands while other designs are highly controlled and embrace a weaving technique. At one level the designs are carefully thought out to accentuate the beauty and sensuality of the female form; at anoter design often has a deeper meaning, for example, the application of metal sheets in layers is symbiotic of the many layers that shape our identities.
