Elbie Visser (Erasmus) is a Stellenbosch based fine artist. Born and raised in Namibia, she
relocated to South Africa in 2009 to pursue a degree in BA Fine Arts at the University of
Pretoria, graduating in 2012 with distinction in her practical work. In 2013, Visser’s work was
selected for the Absa L’Atelier top 100 exhibition. In February 2014, the artist attended a
three month artist residency in Northern Italy alongside a number of international artists.
Over the years she has participated in many group shows across the country and abroad.
Elbie has also curated and co-curated a number of exhibitions over the past 10 years. In
2015 she co-founded Found Collective, a contemporary arts collective that aimed to promote
and showcase the work of emerging Pretoria-based artists. The team curated a number of
exhibitions in alternative urban spaces and existing galleries and was awarded the best
visual arts exhibition at the 2017 Aardklop arts festival.
Currently, the artist resides in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape and is pursuing a career in
the arts full-time. Her main medium is oil paint but has recently started incorporating
printmaking, installation and mixed media into her art practise. Visser’s work predominantly
explores existential themes of transience, liminality, mortality, and our human relationship to
place and what it means to be in the world. S. Casey writes that “Place is what takes place
between body and landscape. ”
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It is this intersection between body and land - our human
need for engagement with or grounding ourselves within our physical world, that continues to
fascinate and trigger the artist’s curiosity. Even though she’s been working and living in
South Africa for over a decade, her Namibian roots and the arid landscapes that she grew
up with continue to inspire, fascinate and visually inform a lot of her work.
