For the month of September we feature Roxy Kaczmarek’s diptych print The City and the Mountains I and II (2022) that is part of her solo exhibition Shifting Positions. The City and the Mountains is a delicate etching with silkscreen details and comprises of two prints: The City and the Mountains I (Palms) and The City and the Mountains II (Hill). This work draws inspiration from an 18th century artwork by Adolphe Martial Potemont (1828-1883) titled ‘Chintreuil et Son Oevre’ (Chintreuil and his work), 1874.
The city and the mountains I (Palms) 2022
The City and the Mountains II Hill, 2022
This diptych brings moments from the city and manmade excavation juxtaposed with a view of the mountains and ocean in Hout Bay where Roxy grew up. The small town is overshadowed by the etchings.
Roxy is an established printer and project manager at the David Krut Workshop with a masters degree in Fine Art from the University of Johannesburg where she is currently based. Her Fine Art undergraduate studies were completed at the University of Cape Town.
More about Roxy Kaczmarek:
Kaczmarek’s work interrogates the intersection of plants and people within liminal spaces of the city. Attempting to break from traditional forms of printmaking her work often experiments with a combination of print and cement. By bringing attention to marginalised urban greenery in between the spaces controlled by humans as well as undisturbed natural areas, Kaczmarek brings into focus how city dwellers are informed by and in turn inform the urban landscape.
Kaczmarek was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons), majoring in printmaking, at the University of Cape Town in 2012. She worked at Warren Editions Print Studio as a printer and studio manager until 2016. Completing her Masters in Technology at the University of Johannesburg she graduated cum laude. Her research resulted in a series of paintings and prints for the exhibition ‘Third Landscapes’ (2019). She currently works as a printmaker and project manager at the David Krut Workshop in Johannesburg. Kaczmarek has been a member of The Printing Girls Collective since 2020 and lectures part-time for the University of Johannesburg Fine Art Printmaking department.
In 2022 Kaczmarek was awarded a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme in Germany.
