South African artist Glendine exhibits works in Malta

Christine X Art Gallery is due to present Karoo Pietà, a solo exhibition by South African artist Glendine, from June 14-28. The exhibition brings together themes of grief, motherhood and spiritual resilience through a series of emotionally charged paintings that draw connections between the vast South African Karoo landscape and the religious symbolism of the Madonna.

At the centre of the exhibition is the Karoo – a remote, arid region known for its stark beauty and wide horizons.

For Glendine, the Karoo is more than a setting. It functions as a metaphor for solitude, memory and emotional endurance. Her work blends this physical environment with the figure of the Madonna, reimagined outside her traditional context.

I think my solitude has wings

In Karoo Pietà, the Madonna is placed in the desert, not as a distant saint, but as a grounded figure of strength and mourning.

The exhibition’s title references Michelangelo’s Pietà, but Glendine’s interpretation is grounded in contemporary experience. Her work is shaped by the personal tragedy of losing her eldest son in a car accident in 2011, an event that marked a turning point in her artistic practice.

Since then, her work has moved away from commercial expectations, embracing a more honest, expressive, and emotionally direct style.

Gozitan summer table

Originally from Namibia, Glendine studied fine art at Pretoria Technikon. Her early artistic influence came from painting with her grandmother Zizi, who was married to the well-known Afrikaans poet DJ Opperman.

Glendine later spent 15 years in the Klein Karoo, where the landscape became a constant presence in her work. Now based in Cape Town, she continues to explore the desert’s visual and emotional language through bold abstraction, vibrant palettes, and mixed media.

And memory for all its warmth, is merely things we forget to forget

While Karoo Pietà reflects a personal journey, its themes are broadly resonant. The works explore motherhood, the endurance of love, and the quiet strength found in loss. Her use of religious symbolism is not dogmatic but emotional – connecting cultural archetypes to lived experience. Christine X Art Gallery’s exhibition offers Maltese audiences a chance to engage with work that is both regionally rooted and universally relevant.

Karoo Pietà by Glendine is on show at Christine X Art Gallery from June 14-28. For more information, visit christinexart.com or contact info@christinexart.com or 9984 4653.