PAULINE BORTON

Pauline was born in 1985 and lives in Johannesburg. She obtained her Honours in Visual Arts from UNISA, with her research founded in concepts that explore construction of social space, including the role of the imagination in defining and affirming a sense of belonging and identity. She enjoys problem solving and developing creative strategies.

Pauline believes that creativity has the power to change the world, in that it’s a different mode of communication that should be explored more as it breaks down barriers and boundaries.

Recently she has completed courses in Community Arts Counselling and Biomimicry and is exploring the ways in which art and growing have the potential to overlap and serve as safe spaces for nurturing, and collective care. Currently she spends her time volunteering for Lefika La Phodiso (Community Arts Counselling Organisation) and managing and nurturing Grow Parkhurst (community urban growing project inspired by the Incredible Edible movement)

Given her background in connecting people and spaces, and her new research into growing and greening; her recent artworks focus on fungi and mycelial networks, and how these become metaphors for social, and often hidden, connections between people and all living things.

There are very practical reasons to develop a reverence for mycelia & mushrooms which include their place in our ecosystem, in the soil food web, as powerful natural forces that can create conditions for decay, decomposition, dissolving and regeneration, which are vital actions for all life.

View Pauline Borton’s Curriculum Vitae

View the Hobbs & Borton Portfolio