Durban artist, Fiona Kirkwood has won a major global award for her latest installation Rain in the international art show "From Lausanne to Beijing", curated out of China and to be viewed online in mid-January.
This week it was announced that Kirkwood won a Silver medal for the work which will be on exhibition with some of the world's most respected global artists.
She is already known in international art circles for her pioneering work combining Fine Art and textiles to create highly textured, multi-media conceptual works.
Rain is made of nylon, beads, steel wool and digitally printed polyester and comments on how climate change is affecting rainfall patterns in South Africa and different parts of the world.
Kirkwood said this week: "In this very troubled year of Covid-19, I am so grateful that my artwork is still being appreciated globally."
Her work will be exhibited at the 11th International Fibre Art Biennale which attracted 1000 entries from artists around the world, from which 313 were selected by an international jury consisting of 21 artists and academics.
Kirkwood lives and works in Durban and said her work reflected the "awareness of the spirit of South Africa and the energy and vibrancy of KwaZulu-Natal“.
Her themes vary from human rights and environmental issues, life and death rituals and her own self-identity influenced by her upbringing in Scotland before her life of 45 years in South Africa. She said the central message of her work was the desire to protect all forms of life.
Her unique way of mixing unorthodox materials to create sculptures and installations has been described as "usually monumental and dramatic and manifest a powerful physical presence“.
Her 2001 work entitled Freedom Coat is currently on exhibition at the Central Museum of Textiles in Lodz, Poland, and consists of giant beadwork pieces that commemorate the role of Nelson Mandela and other struggle heroes.
She has exhibited in 24 countries, including 12 solo exhibitions in South Africa, India and South Korea, and 66 group exhibitions around the world.
Independent on Saturday