Origins & Legacy of Art Jewellery in South Africa

Timed Online Auction, 6 - 22 October 2025

Legacy
About the Session

Legacy, showcases 16 contemporary practitioners whose work reflects the movement’s enduring spirit of experimentation. Like their predecessors, these art jewellers often work with non-precious materials, producing pieces that are expressive, sculptural and conceptually adventurous.  Through these wearable artworks, the artists employ art jewellery as a critical medium to reflect upon, comment on, and challenge the world around them, exploring questions of identity, place, social standing, cultural practices, and political viewpoints.

 


  • Geraldine Fenn; Geraldine Fenn 'Lady silhouettes' earrings


Lot Estimate Change Currency
ZAR 5 500 - 6 000

About this Item

South Africa 1976-
Geraldine Fenn 'Lady silhouettes' earrings
feminine profile shapes in oxidised sterling silver with 18k yellow gold flowers, pink opal, coral, and tanzanite beads on a silver chain, stamped with maker's mark, length approximately 8.5cm, total weight 11 grams
2017

Notes

My work is always quite layered and figurative, and I like playing with different media and techniques. I am also very aware of my position as a person of European descent in a post-colonial/post-apartheid South African context, which I often reference in my work by fusing traditional African cultural modes of production with Western historical tropes to create pieces that are at once hybrids and original creative expressions.

- Geraldine Fenn

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