INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR 2026: Thirza Schaap and Astrid Dahl

Generations
Thirza Schaap and Astrid Dahl
Candice Berman Gallery
Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2026

Astrid Dahl’s ceramic works draw from the language of flora, translating organic forms into refined geometric structures. While rooted in botanical reference, her ceramics move beyond representation, distilling the rhythms and symmetries of plant life into sculptural objects that feel both ancient and contemporary. The repetition of form and pattern suggests cycles of growth, decay, and regeneration, positioning nature as a system shaped by ritual, care, and time.

In dialogue with this approach, Thirza Schaap’s Fatal Flower series engages the floral motif through a more precarious lens. Schaap’s works transform found and discarded materials into flower like forms that speak to fragility, environmental tension, and human intervention. Where Dahl’s ceramics evoke order and balance, Schaap’s flowers carry a sense of disruption, highlighting the vulnerability of natural systems under pressure.

Together, these practices form a compelling conversation around the symbolism of flora. Dahl’s geometric ceramics propose nature as structure and continuity, while Schaap’s Fatal Flower series introduces rupture and consequence. The relationship between the two underscores a shared concern with how natural forms are reimagined through material and meaning, revealing flora as both a site of beauty and a marker of instability in the contemporary world.