Magda Joubert

Her work deals with an aesthetic archaeology and memory excavation of the artist own Visual and mental recordings of places and specific sites. This visual imprints is the inspiration for the artist expressive, imaginary, abstract paintings or 'mind sites'. The artist uses a mixture of oil and wax known as encaustic to create rich, tactile surfaces. Meanings and symbols are either scratched or scraped into the encaustic surface to expose the content of work underlying the tactile material build -up. Her work process involved a personal struggle with material and thoughts reflecting a flux of excavation, adding and subtraction.

The tactile surface of the paintings, formed by several layers has multiple meanings and must be valued beyond the apparent formal 'application' of paint. The viewer has to become active in co-excavating meanings and must find themselves, their own collective and personal past and present within the forms on the canvas rather than recognize or identifying them. These paintings seek to become formalizers of man's unreachable intuitions and memories.

The decision to turn to art as a career was made later in her life. She was born in Pretoria and matriculated with art as one of her main subjects. She obtained a four-year HED qualification. During the eighties her career included teaching art, freelance journalism, and public relations at the Department of Water Affairs. It was only after a two-year period in a remote, isolated area of Lesotho, during 1994 that the need to express her in art could no longer be surpressed.

In 1997 she enrolled for a BA Fine Arts degree at the University of Pretoria. She completed it in 2000, majoring in painting. She was awarded an academic prize in her first year, best art student in her second year and the Frieda van Schalkwyk prize for Art Management in her third year.

She has participated in various group exhibitions in Pretoria from 1997.

She has lectured at University of Pretoria as Fine Art Education lecturer for the past two years. Her experience also included lecturing at the Design School Southern Africa.