Hetsie Otto – South African Artist
Always living creatively, Hetsie really only started to follow her intense passion for expressing herself when she took up photography seriously in 2014. During this time she developed her unique voice, loving and always noticing the play of light and shapes. She started to create photos that looked more like abstract art than just a photo.
Since then, she decided to start taking her painting more seriously as well. She has done various art courses, studied at the Ruth Prowse School of Art, gone on creative art retreats and has had one-on-one art coaching.
Hetsie exhibits in a Cape Town Art Gallery and collectors of her work include people like Neil le Roux (Executive Director of SBA and serious Art Collector), and Adriaan van Zyl (Well-known Orthopaedic Surgeon).
As with her Photography, Hetsie has developed her own style and loves to use only her fingers to paint. This makes for a tactile and textured experience, for both her and the viewer. Hetsie has always used touch creatively and in healing others, she is a qualified Life Coach, Occupational Therapist and Pressure Point Practitioner, on top of being a Contemporary Artist & Fine Art Photographer.
Art for me is about emotion. I express and explore my feelings and where I am in my life.
It is an interactive process between me and the viewer.
I want people to feel, and not just see, when they look at my art.
My work is about being human.
What do I hide? Suppress? Fear?
But also. . .what gives me joy, energy and confidence?
Art is a way to connect to myself and my subconscious world.
I make art to be myself.
I like to blur the line between the real world outside
and the mystical world within.
The art flows from me intuitively finding its own voice onto the canvas
– no rules or inhibitions about being me.
Photos below by Denise Vermuelen
