Angela Banks

After completing my BA (FA) at the University of Pretoria in 1999, I took a part-time Mixed Media course at the Open Window Art Academy and during this year I taught Art part-time at St Mary’s Girls school in Pretoria. In 2001 I began studying my MA(FA) at the University of Pretoria and taught the Information Design Students there, figure drawing. I also taught figure drawing and perspective drawing to students at the Pretoria Open Window Art Academy. I continue teaching private classes at my home Studio in Johannesburg.

I exhibited in various group and solo exhibitions and have been on residencies in France as well as China which has afforded me the opportunity to experience European and Eastern art and has allowed me to exhibit internationally too.

Artists Statement

Amalgamating human and animal to create the hybrid satirical figure in her meticulous works, Angela Banks comments on the role of identity in today’s society and how we portray our identity through masks and guises. Banks creates a simulated reality with reference to various icons, archetypes and stereotypes inherent in the society in which we live. She told Marilyn de Freitas about her experiences and how we pose our identities behind ‘animal’ masks.