Waiting

Bio

Born in Swellendam in 1977 and daughter of the internationally acclaimed fine artist, Mel Brigg who left South Africa 30 years ago, Derryn is now carrying on his legacy in South Africa through her own creative expression. With an academic background in psychology and a prominent career in business, Derryn has painted periodically throughout her life purely as a creative outlet. She has now taken this passion and turned it into a new mid-life career for herself.

Statement

Creative expression has always been central to my upbringing and enables me to share my philosophies on life and release the energy and emotions that I inherently take on through engaging with others. Essentially, I believe that we are all a product of our surroundings and therefore exist as one collective energy. Without preconceived ideas, this is expressed through the largely subconscious use of texture, layering, fluidity, colour and contrast in non-literal figures to convey the elements and emotions present in each one of us that makes up the collective – the sum of the parts equals the whole. Hidden figures and abstract boundaries in many of the landscapes express the relationship to our surroundings. The vague, sometimes faceless, and genderless figures suggest similarities that exist within us without predefined, stereotypical characterisation. The scenes, figures and colour choices reflect situations and emotions of my own as well as those I vicariously experience through others, and strives to show that our emotions, behaviours, and actions impact everyone around us (the collective) because we do not exist in isolation.