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Coral Bijoux
Contemporary
Overview

Coral Bijoux develops her ideas and concepts through an auto-ethnographic visual language that is fecund with metaphor and symbol, textured surfaces echoing layered meanings. Her artwork, curatorial practice, and projects center on these experiences and observations using predominantly installation as an overarching practice with sculpture, mixed and multi-media drawings, photography, animation, and painting. 

Bijoux is mostly self-taught as an artist; however, she does have her Honours in Gender Studies (summa cum laude) and is working on an inter-disciplinary Master in Art at the Drama and Theatre Department, University of Kwazulu-Natal. Additionally, she has a teacher’s qualification and more than 30 years of experience working in the arts, education and heritage sectors.

Her art practice engages with sculpture, multimedia drawings, animated work, photography, sound, and video. Bijoux is concerned with space, how humans engage with the environment, and how art can play a vital role in nurturing this relationship. Furthermore, she is interested in the metaphor of material as well as its alchemy, and so she juxtaposes various materials against one another, organic with synthetic.  In her installations, she incorporates numerous found materials, including industrial recycled plastic, wood, raw clay, wire, metal/steel, Perspex, board, and paper, as well as materials she has grown.

Exhibitions

2023

Sunny Side Up, Group exhibition, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa

2022
New Day Spring Group Exhibition, Graham Contemporary, Johannesburg
Site specific installation: Silence as a Room Series #1 of #5 (a land art and built piece in 5m diameter), desert piece in the Karoo veld outside of Richmond, NC, current – work in progress.

2021 – 2022 
Looking is Different to Seeing artbook/artwork, 29.5cm square, 100 pages – sculptural, drawing and collage with found objects, Limited edition #1 of #5 copies and an original
Site specific installation: ‘green’ I (3/4 sculptures in wood with found objects; large scale drawing and floor piece; animation; other installation elements such as grass growing, plants. window piece), December 2021 – May 2022.
Site specific installation: Dreams as R-evolution II (24 sculptures, 4 large scale drawings; video; animation (stop frame); various installation elements; Dreams as R-evolution artbook (NIHSS National exhibition catalogue/artbook Award recipient) – IZIKO National Gallery, Cape Town, April 2021 – April 2022.

2020
Site specific installation: Dreams as R-evolution I (26 sculptures, 4 large scale drawings; video; stop frame elemnets for animation; various installation elements: UKZN Westville campus plant nursery, Durban – engaging space as context, art and environment, the conditioned SELF. Published the Dreams as R-evolution artbook which features visual essays of the installation as well as text by the artist and 9 other contributors.
Latitudes Online
Participation in the Embodying HirSelf exhibition curated by Madlozi Art 

2018
Completed the dreams, wishes and expectations (2018) 2.5 diameter spherical sculpture and ‘recycling’ it in situ – at sea, uShaka Beach; in Durban Harbour, in the Burman bush.

2017
Created the dreams, wishes and expectations curatorial installation for the Dreams, Wishes and Expectations exhibition for the Voices of Women Museum (2017) – (suspended between 3 floors) Average size: 5m X 2.5m X 3.2 m.

2016
Mixed media drawing series – Freedom Birds Diptych (2016); Manhole: Ode to Khwezi’, Untitled and Untitled animation

2015 – 2016
Mixed Media drawing series – We Fly to the Moon (2015/6)

2014 – 2022
Mixed Media drawing and soft sculpture series – V-Bag (2014 – to date).

2012 – 2015 
Mixed media drawings – Chronicles of an Ordinary Woman. (2012- 2015)

Featured Artwork