EMMA C. ASPELING

Emma C. Aspeling, a South African abstract artist, is a seeker—a traveler through both the inner and outer worlds. Currently based in Somerset West, she creates from a place of deep intuition and exploration, working with mixed media across canvas, board, and paper. A graduate of the Fine Art Department at Stellenbosch University, Aspeling’s art is a journey into the unknown, a passionate investigation of the complex relationship between spirit and matter, between the visible and the unseen.

Her work is not born from intellect or calculation, but from an embodied place of feeling, instinct, and ancient memory. It is the work of someone who believes in the power of mark-making as a deeply transformative and spiritual act. “Mark-making is a mode of expression which feels most embodied, yet is of a substance and place one cannot fully comprehend,” Aspeling says. “An ancient, yet current (some might say ‘urgent’) calling from the soul not to be analyzed but to be greeted, felt and experienced.”

Each work she creates is a testament to the vulnerability and fluidity of the human spirit. Through delicate layers and sometimes bold, expressive gestures, Aspeling explores personal and collective inner landscapes. Her creative process is a continuous dialogue with these inner realms, and she allows herself to be led by her ‘blind mind’s eye,’ working instinctively and without premeditation. Some works pour out in bursts of immediate energy, while others accumulate over time, dense with layers of experience, memory, and emotion.

Aspeling’s approach to art is deeply connected to the body and the spirit. She is inspired by embodiment practices, spirituality, the written word, and sound, and has spent years experimenting with the intersection of visual art and music. A collaboration that began in her final year at art school and continues to evolve through live performances and collaborations with musicians.

During her 2022 solo exhibition, Out of Sight, at 99 Loop Gallery in Cape Town, Aspeling set up studio in the gallery, inviting the public into her creative process. She worked live in the space, engaging with visitors and sharing her journey of creation through a painting performance.

In addition to seven solo exhibitions since 2018, Aspeling has curated the group show In Utero at RK Contemporary in Riebeek Kasteel, bringing together seven contemporary female South African artists. She has participated in notable art fairs such as the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, where she has been represented by 99 Loop Gallery since 2019. Her most recent solo exhibition, Initiation in the Underground Forest, held in May 2024 at 99 Loop Gallery, continued to explore themes of transformation, mystery, and the deep, subterranean forces that shape human existence.

Aspeling’s art is a profound meditation on the interconnectedness of all things—the spiritual and the material, the seen and the unseen. It is an invitation to engage with the primal, to connect with the raw and undefinable aspects of the human spirit. Through her work, she creates a space where vulnerability is not a weakness, but a strength, and where the mysteries of existence can be felt. In this space, the act of creation is not only a personal journey, but a collective one—a shared experience that originates from the soul of the world. In the quiet chaos of her process, Emma C. Aspeling shows us what it means to be human: fluid, vulnerable, and ever-changing, but always searching for meaning in the dance between spirit and matter. 

“I work from the liminal, magical, chaotic, formless place of story, archetypes, imagination, alchemy and mystery. The place between spirit and matter.” - Emma Aspeling, 2024

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

Initiation in the underground forest. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2023

Remembering. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2022

Out of Sight. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

New Works on Paper. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2021

Enfold. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2019

Avoiding loneliness and finding energy. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2018

The weight of, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

Inner Sight, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa

A collection of contemporary South African female artists. Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa

You are here. Hugo Contemporary, Cape Town

2023

Sweef. Hugo Contemporary, Cape Town

Hot Spell | A Group Show, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

Spier Arts Trust featured artist with Boyce Magandela | Solo Studios – Intimate Art Encounters. Riebeek Kasteel, Western Cape, South Africa

2022

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS, DAOR Contemporary, Cape Town

Painter Painter!. Barnard, Cape Town, Western Cape

In Utero. RK Contemporary. Riebeek Kasteel, Western Cape, South Africa

2021

Untitled 8.99 | A Group Exhibition. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2020

Curator's Focus with Karlien van Rooyen, 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2019

Untitled 7.99 | A Group Exhibition. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town

2018

Greatest Hits. Association for Visual Arts Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

The Return of Persephone (Part I & II). Imbala Gallery, Somerset West, Cape Town, South Africa

Untitled 6.99. 99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2017

Blink: a student exhibition. Cavalli Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Drawing & Sound: An improvised collaboration I. GUS, Stellenbosch, South Africa

In Phase: Form, Light, Mark. Stellenbosch Visual Arts Department, Stellenbosch, South Africa

GRADEX. Stellenbosch Visual Arts Department, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Drawing & Sound: An improvised collaboration II. GUS, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Rendering Presence. GUS, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Sasol New Signatures Top 100. Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria