Opening on Wednesday 7 March, Anneke Nahkies is exhibiting a collection of pointe ballet shoes. These are mostly used shoes that, having fulfilled their original function, Anneke has ‘recovered’ to wonderful works of art that have given the shoes an ongoing and enduring purpose. In completing the work for this exhibition Anneke has married her artistic flair with her growing love of ballet and her active engagement in dance.
Anneke began creating this unusual collection in April 2017 when she joined the 100 Day Art Project. The extent of the creative endeavour involved quickly established that creating 100 artworks from 100 pairs of ballet shoes would take far longer than one 100 days!
The quality of Anneke’s work as an artist and the candour of her accompanying commentary on her chronic mental health challenges have attracted generous donations of pointe shoes for her to work with and a worldwide following on social media (see Instagram).