Bronwen Vaughan-Evans

Bronwen Vaughan-Evans received her Masters of Arts in Fine Arts in 1995 from the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. She obtained her Higher Diploma in Education in 1998 from the University of South Africa.

Vaughan-Evans has participated in numerous group exhibitions. In 2004 she had her first solo show entitled ‘one zero one’ at the KwaZulu Natal Society of Arts Gallery, Durban. She then collaborated with Nontobeko Ntombela on a project entitled ‘negotiated spaces’ also held at the KwaZulu Natal Society of Arts Gallery.

In June of 2008 Vaughan-Evans’ solo show, ‘home is where the heart is’ was held at Gallery Momo in Johannesburg. Later in 2008 she exhibited a body of work collectively entitled ‘Memento Mori’ at Bank Gallery, Durban.

Early in 2009 Bronwen Vaughan-Evans and Deanne Donaldson had a two-person show entitled ‘Left of November’ at The Erdmann Contemporary in Cape Town.

Vaughan-Evans’ work is created using a process of layering light gesso on top of darker gesso to create a controlled surface in which the dark layer sits just beneath a thin, light skin and thereby alludes to a metaphorical weight beneath the surface of things. The images reference objects and places from her immediate environment and are created by sanding / etching through the thin top layer to reveal the dark gesso beneath.

Vaughan-Evans lectures part-time at the Fine Art Department of the Durban University of Technology. Her work is included in corporate, public and private collections both locally and internationally.

This body of work explores the notion of fairytales in a contemporary and playful way. Using personal childhood photographs and patterns from early readers Vaughan-Evans reconstructs stories and myths from her childhood. The works are intentionally illustrative, but do not follow a linear narrative, instead we see real world imagery merging with storybook fantasy to form a slightly surreal series of works.

Bronwen Vaughan-Evans would like to credit the use and incorporation of cover designs from a series of children’s books published by Dent Dutton in the 1950’s.