Anthony Harris studied Fine Arts at the Natal Technikon under some of South Africa’s foremost artists; Andrew Verster, Patrick O’Connor, Paul Stopforth and Gavin Younge. After graduating, he taught art at various institutions in Natal over the period 1977 to 1984 and began to exhibit professionally.
His first major exhibition was held at the Walsh Marais Gallery, Durban, in 1978. Since then, he has held over 49 solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions both nationally and internationally including New York, London, Beijing (2010 Beijing Biennale) and Melbourne.
He has recently completed a commissioned work by Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) (in collaboration with Konrad Geel) “Voting Line” – a 36.6-meter life size laser cut sculpture which is positioned at the base of the Great Flag at the Donkin Reserve, Port Elizabeth
His work is found in private, corporate and public collections in South Africa, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, U.S.A, India, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Holland.
Artist's Statement
Anthony Harris uses landscape as
a metaphor for the convergence of time, memory and human
intervention. Moving beyond romanticised views of nature, his work
presents land as a layered record shaped by geological processes,
social histories, political boundaries and cultural identities.
Drawing
on maps, contour lines and accumulated marks, Harris investigates the
impulse to name, divide and transform space into place. References to
Southern Africa’s terrain—from stone tools, ochres and rock art
to routes, settlements and contemporary infrastructure—position the
landscape as a living archive of movement, memory and exchange.
In
bodies of work including Deep
Time, Mapping
and Mapping Boundaries,
layering, fragmentation and shifting perspectives evoke erosion,
migration, evolution and the passage of time. His works bring the
ancient into dialogue with the present, situating personal and
collective experience within geological and cosmic scales.
