I use geological rift as a metaphor for human rift. I am a South African coming out of a country torn apart by rift, by apartheid...You can find it in the arterial lines that run through each and every one of us, the rift lines that break us apart or that create pathways in our lives...
- Georgia Papageorge, 2003
 

Born in Simonstown, Cape Province, in 1941, Georgia Papageorge earned a bachelor's in fine arts from the University of South Africa in Pretoria (1979) and a higher diploma in graphics from Pretoria Technikon (1981). Papageorge turned to art after she lost her two-year-old daughter to cancer--a loss that continues to inspire her work.

Papageorge is best known for her large-scale environmental installations through which she explores the phenomena of geological rifts, and their metaphorical extension to personal and political upheaval. Much of Papageorge's earlier work commented on the turmoil of apartheid and the "rifted consciousness" it created. In the last 15 years, Papageorge's work has been driven by her study of the Gondwanaland schism. Her most recent projects use the coastal landscapes of southern Africa and Brazil to explore concepts of rift, synchronicity and transcendence--concepts she infuses with deep spiritual meaning.



  Zwelethu Mthethwa Ezrom Legae