Swarm, diptych

Exhibited

Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, Penny Siopis; Who's Afraid of the Crowd?, 14 April to 21 May 2011.

Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Penny Siopis: Time and Again, 18 December 2014 to 7 March 2015.

Wits Art Museum, Johannesburg, Penny Siopis: Time and Again, 22 April to 20 August 2015.

Literature

Sophie Perryer (ed) (2011) Penny Siopis; Who's Afraid of the Crowd, Cape Town: Stevenson, illustrated in colour on page 34 and 35.

Gerrit Olivier (ed) (2014), Penny Siopis; Time and Again, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, illustrated in colour on page 244 and 245.

ArtThrob (2015) ArtThrob, Penny Siopis wins Helgaard Steyn Award for Painting, online, accessed 30 July 2026.

Stevenson (2015) Penny Siopis: Time and Again, exhibition catalogue, Cape Town: Stevenson, illustrated in colour, unpaginated.

Provenance

The New Church Museum, Cape Town.

Private Collection.

Notes

This work was the recipient of the Helgaard Steyn Award in 2015, one of South Africa's most substantial awards for the visual arts.

‘Swarm is a complex and dynamic work of art that communicates in an intense and personal way. It engages and captivates the onlooker with unexpected vitality, the emotive scope and cognitive depth underpinning the message. While the overall impression of the work seems very abstract, the method, in direct relation to the theme, captivates and enchants the viewer to really experience “the swarm” in a somewhat disconcerting way that seems to both repel and attract at the same time.’¹

^1. ArtThrob (2015) ArtThrob, Penny Siopis wins Helgaard Steyn Award for Painting, online, accessed 30 July 2026.

An installation view of Swarm (right), illustrated in Stevenson (2015) Penny Siopis: Time and Again, exhibition catalogue, Cape Town: Stevenson, unpaginated.