Artists

Heather Gourlay-Conyngham was born in Durban, South Africa, and now lives and works in Hilton. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts degree from the University of Natal and taught art at various schools in KwaZulu-Natal before becoming a full-time artist in 2012. She has had four solo exhibitions, participated in 25 group shows, and was the winner of the first Sanlam Portrait Award in 2013.

Humanity is the unifying thread in Gourlay-Conyngham’s art, principally in portraits but also in work that reflects the consequences of human actions. Her paintings show the empathy and respect she has for her subjects, whether they are family, friends or people she has come to know while carrying out commissions. Using a realistic idiom, the manner in which she contextualises her figures often evokes allegorical interpretation. Her subject-matter is acutely observed, painstakingly rendered and instilled with an innate energy. In recent years, ideas evident in her paintings have been developed into installations in which conventional representational drawings have been combined with imagery created from unconventional mediums.

Source: the artist’s website.