Artist statement
I am an atmospheric landscape artist. Of particular interest to me is how mood and perception can shift, and the role that language plays in making sense of these changes in our outer and inner worlds.
Filled with mist, reflected light and shadow, the landscapes I create lie close to recognition but remain open to interpretation — like the psyche, they are at once familiar and strange, never fixed. Given my background in linguistic research, I often use asemic writing in my work to underscore this push and pull between certainty and flux in our attempts at sensemaking.
I build my landscapes in layers, using pastels, charcoal, pencils, watercolours, inks, acrylics, oils and cold wax. The varying tones and textures of these media allow me to add and remove information, leaving traces of thought and feeling just below the surface.
Drawing on the literary convention, I organise my work into series, books and chapters. Often, my artwork titles read as snippets from a longer text, an ongoing conversation or a song. This, in combination with the open nature of the work itself, leaves a trail of thought that can be picked up and engaged with at will.
"I want to balance the aesthetic with the intellectual, statement with question, reality with escapism."
Anneke Potgieter is an artist living and working in Kommetjie, South Africa. Her practice is informed by a longstanding engagement with language, research and the structure of thought.
Potgieter holds a doctorate in linguistics and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stellenbosch University. Today, her parallel work as a language editor in the sustainability sphere influences the way she considers material, process and meaning in her studio practice.
It was during the COVID-19 lockdown that Potgieter returned to painting, reconnecting with a childhood interest in exploring both her inner world and the natural world around her through art. This has developed into a practice in which landscape, language and perception intersect.
Lyrics, literary themes, written fragments and the movement of thought often shape the direction of her work. Through long-form writing on her Substack account, she documents the intuitive processes through which her paintings take form.
Potgieter’s work has been exhibited in local galleries and in atmospheric restaurants such as the multiple-award-winning MERTIA in Stellenbosch. Her work is included in private collections both locally and abroad.
Postdoctorate (Linguistics), Stellenbosch University (2014-2015)
PhD (Linguistics), Stellenbosch University (2014)
MA (General Linguistics), Stellenbosch University (2011)
BA (Arts & Culture), Stellenbosch University (2009)
Open Studios Kommetjie (annually in December, 2022–present)
Visionary Art Collective, New York (virtual exhibition ‘Between Here & Belonging’, 2026)
11 on Windsor Studio, Kalk Bay (solo show ‘Mapping the Inner Landscape’, 2026)
Noordhoek Art Point, Noordhoek (March Featured Artist 2023; 2025)
Kamers/Makers, Stellenbosch (via Noordhoek Art Point Collective, Dec 2023)
Stilbaai Gallery, Still Bay (Tales from the Shore, 2023–2024)
The Studio Art Gallery, Simon’s Town (Block Art Exhibition, 2022)
Bright Street Gallery, Somerset West (Out of the Blue, 2021; Winds of Change, 2022)
Just Nuisance Gallery, Simon’s Town (2021)