Helene Botha

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Helene Botha is a fourth-year Graphic Design student at the North-West University. In 2009 she won the National Banknote competition hosted by the Reserve Bank of South Africa and was then invited to Germany by Giescke & Devrient to visit their banknote production facilities. She also won a golden Pendoring in the category digital media and was overall student winner for best project; she was also a finalist for the Student Goldpack awards. She is partner in the design studio Both with Jaco Burger, and plans to be involved full-time in this capacity after completing her BA Graphic Design (hons) at the end of 2010.

PROJECT

Title Dissecting Disliking
Medium Digital laser print
Dimensions 210mm X 277mm
Edition Unique
Price -

The book is a case-bound one with 24 illustrated and designed pages, and 50 blank pages. As a book it explores seemingly irrational dislikes or responses to objects, sensations and experiences. It starts off with food dislikes - a common theme, since almost every person can relate to a certain kind of food they prefer to cut out of their diet. I then explore my dislike of eggs to a point where it goes beyond my sensory function of taste and becomes an emotional connotation that I made with the image of egg and tomato sauce – an image that makes me think of a chicken being crushed with lots of blood. The book then progresses towards the end with more rational dislikes such as my sensory sensitivity as a child: I was extremely irritated by certain sensory experiences. Although this has passed, I still get anxious about such situations. All these experiences - which are often not even related to the object – bring about reactions which shape the state of our minds and give us our unique and subjective view. This journey made me understand the subconscious workings of my attitude towards the things that I cut out of my life. The book made me face aspects of my life that I normally ignore because of uncomfortable feelings towards these aspects. The blank pages at the back of the book leave room for the reader/viewer to engage with their subjective dislikes and to become part of the journey that explores the reasons why we see objects and react to sensations and experiences the way we do.