The person behind the pieces
L
eloisegailrobbertze
Cape Town
Every order supports an independent South African creative business.
Our story
Meet the maker
I’ve always been fascinated by what happens when different worlds meet: photography and painting, reality and imagination, light and colour, the natural and the dreamlike. Layer & Light grew from this fascination and from my desire to create art that cannot be confined to a single medium or way of seeing. My artworks are built rather than simply made. I begin with an idea or an emotion and then I start collecting the pieces that will become part of the final work. A photograph is usually the foundation. Painted marks, textures, fragments of other imagery and digital elements are then added layer by layer, creating transformation. I photograph, paint, manipulate, blend, crop, overlay and rework elements repeatedly, sometimes stripping layers away before adding new ones. Light plays an important role throughout the process as both a photographic element and a way of creating depth and emotion. I work with photography, acrylic and watercolour, digital imagery and textures, bringing these different materials together to create a single cohesive artwork. The finished artwork is the result of many creative decisions such as what to keep, what to remove, what to obscure and what to reveal. This is where the name Layer & Light comes from. The layers create the story and the light brings it to life. Whether I am creating an original artwork or preparing a fine-art print, my aim is always the same: to create something with emotion and a sense of discovery, something that makes you want to look for longer. That is when an artwork stops being mine and becomes part of someone else's story.