Karin Daymond

Look at Karin Daymond's lithographs

Karin Daymond lives in a part of South Africa that has some of the most staggering landscapes in the country. Nelspruit which has been home for Karin Daymond since 1992, is the capital of the Mpumalanga province. It is mountainous country wedged snugly into a corner bordering Mozambique, Swaziland and the pristine Kruger National Park. The vegetation is sub-tropical and huge whale back granite formations surge out of the fertile orange, litchi and nut orchards that surround Nelspruit. Karin Daymond has chosen to live almost within her paintings. The connection with her life's outlook, where she lives and what she depicts are tightly bound.

Landscape painting has a long history in South Africa. White European explorers chartered their way across the sub-continent recording the flora, fauna and land that they moved through. Much of this documentation was in the name of science and natural history. As these explorers tended to reflect the needs of the empire builders who funded their trips it also reflected the politics of the day. Depicting the landscape was often a way to expropriate and therefore control it This tradition continued into the twentieth century with the work of John Koenakeefe Mohl, J H Pierneef, the Everard Group and George Pemba. What is interesting to note is when human figures or signs of human development are included or not. Some of these early landscapes reflected an idealized view of Africa, an Eden devoid of people and often teeming with beautiful strange animals.

Karin Daymonds landscapes are also devoid of human figures. But her motivation for this lack of human activity is not motivated by a political agenda. Daymond says" Life in South Africa is always controversial, ironic, violent, absurd and tragic. Debates rage and yet the land is always there, regardless of to whom it belongs. Natural elements reassert themselves, through the seasons, patterns and contrasts". When humans have annihilated themselves the earth will endure and remain.

Karin Daymond has a strong connection with the land and is attracted to the sense of aloneness that one has within a landscape even though the "ghosts" of previous land use emerge, whether these are old fields and orchards or the remains of earlier stone age and iron age settlements. They are like stretch marks on the land and put the individual and time into perspective. Landscapes are a way for Daymond to explore her Africaness. Patterns, rhythms and colour help her to make sense of her world. Daymond says that she enjoys the process of finding a sense of order in what might initially seem like chaotic nature and then distilling this into a painting. Daymond says: 'I paint to make sense of my surroundings, nature and the landscape are an integral part of who I am.".Landscapes are a way for Daymond to lose herself and merge with the landscape in a way that becomes meditative when expressed in her paintings.

Karin Daymond was born in Durban in 1967. She studied fine art at the University of Natal and completed her Honours degree in 1989. For many years she taught art privately, and in 2008 committed to full time painting. She has led a number of teaching trips to Italy where her students paint on site in the Italian landscape.

Daymond's work is in various private and public collections in South Africa, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and Italy. Daymond has been actively involved in the provincial arts scene in Mpumalanga working for the Mpumalanga Parks Board as a Creative Development Officer (1995/97) and in 2006 participated in the Ligwalagwala FM "Learn as you go" programme for the SABC.

Landscape Paintings