The Architecture of Quiet Things, a solo exhibition by Anina Deetlefs is opening at Art@Africa on Thursday, 3 September at 18:30.
While Anina Deetlefs exhibited work as part of the The Nature of Women exhibition, that closes at the end of Women’s Month, The Architecture of Quiet Things takes us into her new body of work.
Some of life’s greatest wonders exist beyond what we can immediately see. For years, Anina Deetlefs painted flowers as symbols of beauty and resilience. While exploring their microscopic structures, she discovered intricate cellular worlds that inspired an entirely new body of work.
In The Architecture of Quiet Things, botanical forms, cellular structures, the human figure and abstract geometry come together to explore the delicate relationship between the visible and the invisible – the systems that quietly sustain life and our place within them.
Rather than explaining nature, these works invite us to slow down, look more closely, and rediscover wonder in the ordinary.
“They remind me to remember that there are mysteries for which a measuring tape has no meaning, questions and answers that have no place in the truth about rocks and mosses. “— Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss.
Mycelium
“For many years I have painted flowers as symbols of beauty, resilience and the quiet strength carried by women. This body of work began with those same flowers, but led me somewhere I had never expected.
While reading Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer, I found myself returning again and again to the idea that the smallest living things often hold the greatest wisdom. Curious to see beyond the surface, I began exploring microscopic images of the flowers that have long inspired my paintings. Hidden within each bloom I discovered intricate cellular worlds—structures of extraordinary beauty that quietly sustain all life.
What captivated me was not only their complexity, but the realisation that these unseen forms are the foundations of our ecosystems. They nourish, connect and regenerate in ways we rarely notice, reminding us that life depends as much on the invisible as the visible.
These discoveries became the starting point for this exhibition.
The works combine botanical cross-sections, cellular structures, the human form and abstract geometric elements. The geometry speaks of the systems and structures we create to order our world, while the organic forms embody nature’s own quiet intelligence – fluid, adaptive and profoundly interconnected. Together they explore the relationship between the constructed and the living, between what we control and what quietly sustains us.
Rather than illustrating scientific observation, these paintings are an invitation to wonder. They ask us to look beyond the surface, to recognise the hidden patterns that sustain life, and to remember that we, too, belong to this intricate architecture.
The Architecture of Quiet Things is an invitation to slow down and look more closely. To notice the extraordinary within the ordinary. To find wonder in the overlooked, and to remember that some of life’s deepest truths cannot be measured, only experienced.”
WHAT: The Architecture of Quiet Things – Anina Deetlefs
WHERE: Art@Africa Gallery, Clock Tower Centre, Silo District, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town 8001
WHEN: Opening 3 September at 18:30
INFO: T 082 774 1078 | E wecare@artafrica.art | VISIT | see also Two New Exhibitions. Two Unique Perspectives.
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