Maia Lehr-Sacks

Maia Lehr-Sacks (1996) was born and resides in Johannesburg, South Africa. They work with paper, folding, markmaking, and words. Their artworks explore orientation within time and space. Lehr-Sacks obtained a BA in Visual Arts (Fine Art) from Stellenbosch University (cum laude) in 2019. They completed an MFA entitled How to Fold a Grid at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in 2022 (cum laude). They were a part of Tankwa Artscape Residency for three years from 2018 to 2020 and have exhibited their work in numerous group exhibitions nationally in Gauteng and the Western Cape, and internationally in Paris and Romania.

My work stands as a way of decoding the world around me. Faced with a world that seems to make little sense, I have turned to practice as an orientational device. When viewed as a whole, the results of my practice provide me with documentation of my translation of experience. My primary medium is paper, which I fold grided tessellations from and draw onto. My folding process is based on a geometric sequence with a common ratio of two, dividing the paper into equal parts—halves, quarters, eighths, and so on. This process of division creates a grid that serves as both a structural foundation and a reflective practice.

When drawing I work predominantly with a monochromatic palette, using ink, gesso, graphite, and carbon paper. I draw from life, from photographs I have taken during particular moments in time, and from memory. My subjects often include descriptions of trees in forests or plantations, or parks. The landscapes that I draw, or paint are sometimes from life and sometimes depictions of an internal, emotional space, but they always represent a seeking of perspective and reflection. Each diverting branch that I draw reminds me that the world is filled with binary oppositions and decisions of either action or inaction.