Veiled Lacy Frog
Minette Visser
2011
Collage on cardboard, Bleach&Ink on Tracing Paper
297 x 350 mm
This image, here, is where my whole obsession with frogs started.
I had been attending a series of art classes facilitated by Emma Willemse. She was guiding us through a journey to find our concept. This was right at the time when her Unisa students were winning the PPC Imaginarium and Sasol New Signatures competitions, so it was very exciting to imagine I could be a part of that world.
During this specific class, she had us do the Vein of Gold Collage where you spend only a short time collecting as many images as possible from magazines, and then compiling them together. I had all these pictures of women and flowers and girly things, but the frog in the top right corner really jumped out at me.
Emma then had us do a painted collage, and I attempted an image of a frog lit by moonlight. I remember at the time worrying about the link between moon and frog, whether that was correct, and the green I had chosen for the frog had this pattern on it that makes it look like lace, and was I on the right track? Is this part of my concept? What if I’m wrong?
I went home and did a buttload of research on frogs.
I was not wrong.
The frog is the perfect symbol for what I want to achieve with my art.
I went home and put tracing paper on top of my frog collage, and attacked it with ink and bleach, to veil the frog. The veil comes from the experience of a work trip to Saudi Arabia, and being accosted by the religious police for not covering my hair.
In my defense, the flippen scarf kept slipping off.