Jenna Barbe (b. 1980) currently lives and works in Cape Town. She specializes in a variety of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, and mixed media with found objects. Barbe graduated from Ruth Prowse School of Art with a diploma in Fine Art in 2015.
ARTIST STATEMENT
ABOUT
Education
2013 - 2015
Diploma in Fine Art
Ruth Prowse School of Art,
Cape Town, South Africa
1999 - 2001
Diploma in Visual Communication
(Art Direction Specialization)
A.A.A. School of Advertising,
Cape Town, South Africa
1992 -1998
Matriculation Senior Certificate
(Exemption with A Aggregate)
St. Mary's Diocesan School for Girls,
Durban, South Africa
Exhibitions & Commission
2026
Private Commission- Painting on Silk
Johannesburg
2026
Private Commission For Thirza
Cape Town
2025
Private Commission The Kumpers
Cape Town
2025
"The Quiet Gift" Group Show
SA Art Fair, Tintswalo Atlantic
and Chefs Warehouse
Cape Town
2025
Vetsak Showroom Group Show
Cape Town
2025
Hout Bay & Llandudno Art Fair
Cape Town
2024
Private Commission
Commission for Philippe
Dubai
2024
Private Commission
Commission for Kitty
Cape Town
2023
Private Commission
Commission for Leigh
Cape Town
2023
The Red Room by Chefs Warehouse
Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel
Cape Town
2023
Private Commission
Commission for Greg
Mauritius
2022
Private Commission
How To Ride A Seahorse
One&Only, Cape Town
2022
Private Commission
Llandudno Landscape
Cape Town
2021
Warming Up For Summer
Art Exhibition
Lisa Linnow Gallery, Old Castle Breweries,
Cape Town
2020
Private Commission
Permanent Installation
Table View Cabanas, Cape Town
2019
Private Commission
Permanent Installation
Salon 91, Cape Town
2019
Water Wars
Art Exhibition
Art@Africa Gallery, Clock Tower, Cape Town
2018
Turbine Art Fair
Installation
Johannesburg
2017
Wavescape Artboard Charity Auction
Surfboard Art Exhibition
Jack Black Brewing Co. Cape Town
2017
Adult Education Programme
Art Exhibition
Peter Clarke Art Centre
2017
Private Commission - The Beekman's
Kwa-Zulu Natal
2017
Private Commission-Responsible Research
Old Castle Breweries, Cape Town
2017
Private Commission-Edwin Stokes
Australia
2016
Wavescape Artboard Charity Auction
Surfboard Art Exhibition
Tiger's Milk, Cape Town
2014
In Minima Forma
Pop-Up Exhibition
Ruth Prowse School of Art
2014
Out of the Blue
Ceramic Exhibition
Rust-en-Vrede and Mervyn Gers Studio
My practice explores the tension between interior and exterior states, considering how vulnerability, protection, and perception are negotiated through the body and its environment. Working across carving and painting, these ideas are expressed through two materially distinct approaches: one grounded in excavation and exposure, the other in immersion and atmosphere.
In the sculptural works, discarded polyurethane surfboards are carved to reveal intricate, coral-like formations within. Through a process of removal, the surface is destabilised and the interior brought into visibility. Referencing stony coral - where a hardened exterior protects a fragile organism - the works articulate a dynamic between protection and vulnerability, with structure functioning as both support and constraint.
In contrast, the paintings and drawings explore women in nature through both the physical presence of the body and a feminine gaze on the landscape. These works are shaped by light, openness, and immediacy. Figures appear embedded within raw silk surfaces, while watercolour and chalk pencil landscapes create layered, temporally ambiguous environments.
Across both practices, the work moves between exposure and concealment, where inner states are not fixed, but continuously revealed, held, and transformed through material and environment.