Nicola Bouwer, Petals and Presence, oil on board, 2025

Dimesnsion: 42x29.5cm

Nicole Bouwer is a Johannesburg-based South African artist whose practice spans oil painting and collage. Rooted in quiet observation and emotional storytelling, her work draws on themes of memory, stillness, nature, and the subtle spaces in between.

With formal studies in the social sciences and an intuitive approach to creativity, Bouwer views art not as something learned, but as a way of moving through the world. After beginning her career in the corporate sector, she returned to a long-standing interest in artmaking, developing a dedicated practice that merges instinct with intention.

Her process is guided by a sensitivity to mood, form, and the poetic potential of everyday moments—whether the curve of a shadow, the glow of light on a surface, or the presence of a solitary object. Influenced by Japanese aesthetics, photography, graphic design, architecture, and the natural world, her work offers an introspective yet playful mix of mediums and meaning.

Petals and Presence embodies this sensibility, distilling atmosphere, texture, and emotion into a quiet, contemplative composition.