KARLIEN VAN ROOYEN
Karlien van Rooyen (b. 1991, South Africa) is a Cape Town-based ceramic sculptor whose conceptual practice is deeply informed by an unconventional life shaped by science, activism, and personal transformation. Originally trained in medical science with a focus on neuroscience, she later worked as a full-time activist, spending six years living in remote bush blockades alongside Indigenous communities engaged in legal resistance against mining corporations. These experiences profoundly shaped her worldview and now echo through her sculptural work.
Turning to art as a form of healing and self-expression following her departure from frontline activism, Karlien completed a degree in Contemporary Art at the University of South Australia in 2017, where she was awarded the Minter Ellison Award for Outstanding Creative Potential. In 2018, she received an International Project Grant to undertake a seven-week ceramic residency in Jingdezhen, China—the historic centre of porcelain production.
Her work, rooted in the materiality of clay, explores themes of resilience, trauma, and transformation, often drawing inspiration from wild landscapes and the tension between fragility and strength. Through sculpture, she continues to navigate the complexities of the human condition and its entanglement with the natural world.
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Turning to art as a form of healing and self-expression following her departure from frontline activism, Karlien completed a degree in Contemporary Art at the University of South Australia in 2017, where she was awarded the Minter Ellison Award for Outstanding Creative Potential. In 2018, she received an International Project Grant to undertake a seven-week ceramic residency in Jingdezhen, China—the historic centre of porcelain production.
Her work, rooted in the materiality of clay, explores themes of resilience, trauma, and transformation, often drawing inspiration from wild landscapes and the tension between fragility and strength. Through sculpture, she continues to navigate the complexities of the human condition and its entanglement with the natural world.
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