Oranjemund exhibition brings desert-inspired works to Windhoek

The OMDis Artists in Residence: 2025 Art Exhibition, first staged in May in Oranjemund, will open its second showing in Windhoek at the Namibian Arts Association on Tuesday, 29 July.Presented by the Oranjemund Art Centre in partnership with StArt Art Gallery and the Namibian Arts Association, the exhibition showcases work by three artists in residence - Edeltraut Rath, Hildegard Titus, and Kevlyn Gowases - and features photography, ceramics, painting, and video art.The opening will also mark the official launch of the exhibition’s catalogue, which includes images of the artworks alongside written reflections by the artists and curators.Founded in 2023, the Oranjemund Art Centre has quickly established itself as a cultural incubator, welcoming both Namibian and international artists. During their 2025 residency from 30 April to 31 May, the artists shared a communal studio space in Oranjemund, immersing themselves in the unique landscape and community while developing new work.A dialogue with the landEdeltraut Rath, a painter based in Bremen, Germany, has maintained ties with Namibia for over 20 years. Her contribution to the exhibition reflects a contemplative engagement with the desert’s shifting palette. Working primarily in watercolour, she focused on colour transitions inspired by the changing light at dawn and dusk. “The way colour overlays in nature became a visual language for exploring impermanence,” she said.Windhoek-based visual artist and decolonial curator Hildegard Titus turns her lens inward in Fruit of Her Womb, a multimedia installation exploring the intersection of motherhood, identity, and bodily autonomy. Known for her political and conceptual work, Titus uses film and photography to confront silenced narratives around fertility and womanhood. “This work was a personal confrontation with care, resistance, and the right to self-define,” she said.Ceramicist Kevlyn Gowases, a recent fine art graduate from Windhoek, worked with wild clay collected from the Orange River. Her hand-built sculptural forms are inspired by the natural elements of Oranjemund — its winds, terrain, and layered histories. “There’s a memory in this clay,” Gowases reflected. “A resonance with the hunter-gatherer peoples who lived on this land. I tried to let that memory guide the shape and texture of my work.”The Windhoek leg of the exhibition invites urban audiences to experience a body of work shaped by isolation, elemental forces, and community collaboration; art that, at its core, is deeply rooted in place.

Oranjemund exhibition brings desert-inspired works to Windhoek

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-26

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Oranjemund exhibition brings desert-inspired works to Windhoek

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Namibian Sun 2026-03-26

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