Episode 4: Talking with Kim Siebert
Kim Siebert, born in 1958 in Johannesburg, completed an MFA at the University of Cape Town, Michaelis School of Fine Art, in 1982. She was selected to represent South Africa to complete post-graduate studies in Conservation and Collection Management through the University of London, Archeology Department, and the United Nations Conservation Body, ICCROM, in 1995. Kim’s professional career has been in South Africa, the USA, and Taiwan as a conservator whose post-graduate professional training has included heritage transportation and installations of exhibitions. Her South African National Gallery. exhibition and education projects for children and the general public include founding the SA Invited Artist program in 1989-1994, which included important artists William Kentridge RA, Ndebele muralists, and the initiation of the first SA beadwork collection. Her current work with the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Collection has been recently donated to the Taiwan Museum. She currently lives and works in Taipei.
Kim’s art is represented in the following public collections: Iziko South African Gallery, Tatham Art Gallery, and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum.
Artist's statement:
Kim Siebert’s art imagery addresses tensions of identity, gender, and the colonial legacy of marginalization located firmly within African heritage and culture. It integrates the legacy of European early Modernism as presented in literature and formal art training including the conflict, contradictions, and moral corruption of the Apartheid South Africa. Her work consciously straddles the creative reorganization of collage media, assemblage, artifacts, found objects, and craft to expose ideological tensions in a unique manner. Kim sees her art as a “cultural archeology“ in which she questions both her own and our perceived place within making change visible.
Images below with permission from Kim Siebert. The artist’s opinions are their own. Audio edits by Dan Dewes. “East West Village” by Tim Garland & Asaf Sirkis.
