Michelle Gow is a mixed-media artist whose practice explores material memory, erosion and the traces left behind through tension, decay and time.

Working with paper, ash, fabric, wood, leather and wire, she builds heavily layered surfaces through burning, tearing, binding, glazing and abrasion. Cracks, fractures, soot, stress marks and structural failure become part of the visual language, revealing what remains after usefulness has faded.

Born in Cape Town, Michelle Gow’s early years were shaped by the atmosphere and contradictions of District 6 prior to its forced removals under apartheid. Memories of deterioration, displacement and resilience continue to inform the emotional undercurrent of the work, though the pieces remain intentionally abstract rather than narrative.

Her practice is grounded in process and physicality. Surfaces are pushed, damaged, repaired and reworked repeatedly, allowing the material itself to carry part of the conversation. The works often sit within restrained palettes of charred blacks, bone tones and earth pigments, creating objects that feel both archaeological and unresolved.

Rather than presenting a fixed image, the work invites slower observation — where texture, tension and absence become as important as form itself.