The Theatre of The Yellow Rock Fort is a new solo exhibition by Cape Town printmaker Kristen McClarty, whose finely crafted woodcuts, sculpture and installation works are inspired by a rocky stretch of the South Atlantic coastline. Returning repeatedly to a place she calls the Yellow Rock Fort beneath Slangkop Mountain, McClarty studies the changing relationship between light, shadow, rock and sea, transforming these observations into richly layered prints and sculptural forms.

Woodcut remains at the heart of McClarty’s practice. By carving away the surface of the woodblock, she gradually builds intricate images that echo the textures, marks and shifting rhythms of the coastline. Shadows cast across the rocks become recurring characters throughout the exhibition, stretching, changing shape and taking on lives of their own. Sculpture and installation extend these ideas into the gallery, creating an environment that invites visitors to move through the work as though stepping into the landscape itself.

The exhibition is shaped by a coastline where life is constantly being remade. Storms wash away kelp, nests and vegetation before the landscape slowly recovers, providing an ever-changing backdrop for McClarty’s observations. Rather than documenting a specific place, she uses it as the setting for an imagined theatre where natural forces, memory and shadow interact through carefully crafted forms and surfaces.

McClarty is one of South Africa’s leading contemporary printmakers, working across woodcut, sculpture and installation. A member of The Printing Girls collective since 2020, she was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (UK) in 2025. Her work is held in the collections of the Iziko South African National Gallery, The Art Bank of South Africa, and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers Diploma Collection in London. The Theatre of The Yellow Rock Fort offers an opportunity to experience a thoughtful and technically accomplished exhibition that rewards close looking and an appreciation for the enduring dialogue between landscape, light and print.

HEAT Curator-led Walkabout: Saturday 15 August, 10 am. Book tickets here.