News — van Zyl

Ina van Zyl paints the human body, plants, flowers and everyday objects in muted tones. Those subdued colours give her canvases a remarkable density and power. She also writes graphic novels, and her work reflects the paradoxes of South Africa, her native country. She was born in 1971 in Ceres and trained at the fine arts school of the University of Stellenbosch. Her first comic strips appeared in Bitterkomix, a South African comic launched in 1992. That underground background shows in her mix of drawing, painting and storytelling. In 1995 she left for the Netherlands on the Thami Mnyele grant,...