Nature’s unassuming beauty inspires the work of Cape Town artist Imogen Clarke, which centres on a profound engagement with the natural world. Driven by the patterns and rhythms inherent around us, she demonstrates – with a devotion to authenticity – that we are all small parts of something much larger than ourselves, like the notes of a song, the leaves of a tree or cells of a body.

The subtle delicacy of some of her imagery emerges from the painstaking application of thousands of stippled dots of ink on paper, woven into an organic whole, and sometimes enhanced with a touch of gold leaf or watercolour. Beginning from a single point, this meditative process is used to build ephemeral mandalas and tessellations, as well as intricate scenes in which animals and birds interact with lush, fantastical landscapes that hover on the paper like objects of sacred geometry themselves.

We are all intricately connected, and change for the good starts with consciousness – the ignition of a dot or a single point of light. While there are no human figures in these scenes of paradise, the precise lines of arches, aqueducts, temples and stairways which are surrounded by foliage, rivers and hills suggest that we humans can live in harmony with our environment. Imogen’s artworks help us develop an ecologically sensitive attitude towards nature, and our place in it.

Alongside these stippled landscapes her exploration with watercolours has recently evolved into an investigation of light and iridescence after having been selected to represent Harvest Moon Watercolours – a Cape Town based home run business for hand made pearlescent watercolours. 

Her paintings are created through the application of the basic techniques of traditional Persian, Islamic, and Indian miniature painting – skills learnt at the London based King’s Foundation School of Traditional Art – which include special paper preparation, painting techniques and an exploration of natural pigments.

Born in South Africa, Imogen is currently based in Cape Town. A background in complimentary healing and life-coaching, a passion for astrology and the greater mysteries, as well as a deep love for travel, have all facilitated and informed her creative journey so far.

– thank you to Lena Sulik for her contribution to these words –