2021 Absa L'Atelier Ambassador at the Main Gallery, Drawing the Line brings together a compelling body of work that explores the conceptual and aesthetic potential of the line. Here, the line is more than a visual element—it becomes a means to form new connections, mark the passage of time, suggest language, and challenge assumptions. Each artwork investigates how the line—whether drawn, etched, constructed, or found—can shape our understanding of the world and our place within it. Through the use of evocative objects such as a wisdom tooth, a spade, earth, and the remnants of erasure, the exhibition reveals how materials already carry meaning—meaning that can be drawn out, recontextualised, and reimagined. The works engage with themes of ancestry, labour, decay, memory, and belonging. The line, often associated with division, is reimagined as a tool for connection—linking body and land, past and future, the personal and the collective. To “draw the line” is also to take a stand—to determine where things begin and end. This exhibition invites viewers to look more closely, question assumptions, and reconsider what they think they know.

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