Mia Chaplin (b. 1990, South Africa) is a Cape Town-based painter known for her expressive oil paintings on canvas and paper. Her work is distinguished by its rich, textured impasto surfaces and expressive, visible brushstrokes. Recently, Chaplin has embraced a muted colour palette, dominated by soft pinks and golden hues. Her subjects, ranging from still lifes to figure studies and landscapes offer contemplative reflections on the familiar. Her fluid, erratic painting style, reminiscent of the Impressionists, brings an intuitive, emotional depth to her pieces. These works explore themes of estrangement, capturing a disconnect between the self and its environment, oscillating between voyeuristic distance and intimate connection, all while remaining deeply self-referential.

Erin Chaplin (b. 1988, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) is a self-taught artist whose work has evolved from still life and portraiture to abstract painting. She finds still life, particularly flowers and fruit, to be a powerful way to explore the fleeting nature of time and the balance between life and death. Vulnerability is a key element in her art, and she feels exposed when releasing her work to the world. Recently, abstract painting has allowed her to develop her own language, free from the expectations of figurative work. Her creative process is driven by emotion, often influenced by the music she listens to in the studio, and a piece feels complete when it reflects her inner state.