Presented as part of Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees 2026, Art Jewellery in Conversation with Still Life brings contemporary jewellery into direct conversation with the still-life tradition.

The exhibition is the second collaboration between Strauss & Co and Stellenbosch University’s Creative Jewellery and Metal Design Division, and runs alongside Anything But Static: A Selection of Modern and Contemporary Still Life Artworks.

The participating jewellers are Anika Lötter, Carine Terreblanche, Errico Cassar, Geraldine Fenn, Dr Joani Groenewald, Karien van Langelaar, Kitty Schneider, Lilly Friedlaender, Mariambibi Khan, Marlene De Beer, Nina Newman, Princess Ndala, Zoë Chowney, Xolani Mayikana and Eric Loubser.

Across brooches, necklaces, rings and other wearable pieces, the artists draw on painting, domestic memory, ritual objects and familiar forms. Some respond directly to specific works by artists including Alexis Preller and Irma Stern; others begin with objects whose meanings shift according to context, memory or use.

Eric Loubser turns repeatedly to the banana, using it across a painted brooch, carved wooden necklace and silver ring, with references stretching from Paul Gauguin and Andy Warhol to Maurizio Cattelan.

Nina Newman responds to Alexis Preller’s 1948 Still Life with Lilies and Shell, reducing details from the painting into geometric forms made from blackwood, silver, brass, garnets, coral, ceramic and shell.

For Princess Ndala, Jagan’s Two Candles becomes a starting point for silver jewellery shaped like flowing wax. The work draws on the symbolic role of candles in African spiritual practice and on the way jewellery changes once it is worn and set in motion.

Anika Lötter takes Irma Stern’s 1935 Dahlias as a reference point, weaving wool and mohair into a brooch that also carries a more personal memory of her grandmother arranging dahlias at home.

Elsewhere, Geraldine Fenn combines china plates with porcelain doll limbs and eyes, while Joani Groenewald’s Pear Studies uses bruised and bandaged pears to consider care and vulnerability.

By translating still-life imagery into wearable objects, the exhibition shifts the genre into a different relationship with the body. These works are not simply viewed from a distance; they can be handled, carried and worn.

The jewellery is also available through a Strauss & Co online sale while the exhibition is on view in Stellenbosch.

Opening Event

Monday, 5 October 2026 at 15h00
Oude Leeskamer

Public Talk

Wednesday, 7 October 2026 at 13h00
Stadsaal

Eric Loubser joins members of Stellenbosch University’s Creative Jewellery and Metal Design Division for a public discussion around the exhibition and contemporary jewellery practice.

Images courtesy of Strauss & Co and participating artists.