Artist Biography

Jenny Retief is a South African textile artist whose work celebrates storytelling, cultural heritage and the rich visual language of fabric. Based on a farm in the Southern Drakensberg near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal, Jenny completed her BA Visual Art degree at UNISA in 2018, majoring in textile art. At the heart of her practice is a simple but defining principle: every artwork must tell a story.

Jenny creates art quilts using collage, appliqué, freehand machine stitching and hand embroidery. Images and portraits are assembled onto quilted backgrounds and surrounded by vibrant borders, creating richly layered compositions in which fabric, image and stitch work together as narrative elements. Her approach combines the intimacy and tradition of needlework with the visual presence of contemporary wall art.

Central to Jenny’s work is the extensive use of isishweshwe, the distinctive patterned cotton fabric deeply embedded in South African cultural history. Its vivid colours and intricate patterns bring energy to her compositions, while its history of trade, adaptation and cultural exchange adds another layer of meaning. For Jenny, the fabric becomes both material and storyteller - connecting individual experience to a broader South African narrative.

Her surroundings in the Southern Drakensberg, close to the Lesotho border, provide a strong sense of place and cultural context. Yet Jenny’s storytelling reaches beyond geography. She is particularly interested in myth and folklore, and in the archetypal stories that have travelled through generations and continue to find echoes in contemporary lives.

Through stitching, Jenny explores the way stories shape identity. Individual pieces of fabric are brought together to create something larger, much as fragments of memory, history and personal experience combine to form our understanding of who we are. Her work considers storytelling not only as a means of remembering, but also as a way of questioning, reconstructing and ultimately healing.

Jenny’s art quilts occupy a space between fine art, textile tradition and visual storytelling. Each work is created one stitch at a time, carrying with it the tactile presence of the handmade and the individuality of its maker. Through colour, pattern and narrative, she invites the viewer to discover familiar human stories woven into a distinctly South African visual language.

Artist Statement

My work must tell a story, and my favourite way of storytelling is through stitching. Fabric allows me to bring colour, image and narrative together, building each artwork slowly through layers of appliqué, machine stitching and hand embroidery.

Isishweshwe plays an important role in my work. I am drawn to its vibrant colours and patterns, but also to the history it carries. It is a fabric shaped by cultural exchange and one that has become deeply associated with South Africa, making it a natural part of the stories I want to tell.

Living and working in the Southern Drakensberg, close to Lesotho, connects me strongly to the landscape and cultural heritage around me. My work reflects my own experience as a South African woman while exploring stories that reach far beyond any one place or generation.

Myth and folklore stretch back thousands of years. If we look carefully, we can often find something of our own story within these timeless tales. I believe we weave our individual stories in much the same way that I construct my quilts - gradually, layer by layer and one stitch at a time.

Through writing, telling and stitching our stories, we have the opportunity to look again at who we are. Narratives can help us deconstruct and reconstruct our identities, allowing old stories to take on new meaning and, in the process, opening a path towards healing.

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