Dates: 15 July – 24 August 2025
Opening event: 18:00 on Tuesday, 15 July 2025
Walkabout event: 10:00 on Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Venue: Annex Gallery, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, 16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein
“… and the good fairy, during so long a sleep, had entertained her with pleasant dreams.”
— Charles Perrault, The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods (1634)
Artist, Lisa Ledwick, is set to debut her eagerly awaited solo exhibition, Soliloquy: the Untold Story of Sleeping Beauty’s Dreams. Soliloquy is a personal, visual journey of growth that touches on key elements of agency, re-visioning, traditional ‘femininity’, and fairy tales conveyed through exquisite graphite and pencil drawings. This journey can be experienced in the Annex Gallery of Oliewenhuis Art Museum from 15 July – 24 August 2025.
In this evocative solo exhibition, Soliloquy, the artist invites viewers into a dreamworld forged in nostalgia, myth, and psychological reflection. What unfolds is a contemporary re-visioning of the traditional fairy tale, not as a passive slumber but as a rite of passage – a dreamtime journey of awakening. The viewer is encouraged to step inside a suspended reality where archetype and memory collide, drawing them into a richly symbolic world that interrogates meaning and agency. The narrative occurs within the protagonist’s dream during the curse, repositioning her not as a dormant figure, but as a heroine on a quest for spiritual and emotional truth.
Each artwork begins as a digital collage – a synthesis of eras – later translated into delicate hand-drawn imagery that blurs the line between the real and the surreal. The aesthetic, steeped in fairytale logic and symbolic tension, creates an otherworldly experience that conjures introspection. Viewers may recognise themselves in the imagery or find themselves quietly unsettled by the unfamiliar emotional terrain it reveals. Through detailed renderings and careful composition, the works gently urge the audience to consider the interior world: how past experiences, both personal and inherited, shape our present selves and choices.
This exhibition is not simply a re-telling, but a re-claiming – a response to the gendered passivity often ascribed to fairytale heroines. Rather than reversing traditional roles, the work recuperates aspects of femininity – such as waiting, vulnerability, and dreaming – within a framework of agency and self-actualisation. The dreamscape becomes a battleground of ideologies, a space in which emotional and spiritual transformation unfolds. In a world increasingly fragmented by noise and immediacy, Soliloquy offers viewers a quiet space for psychological reflection, and asks the timeless question: how do we find meaning in what we endure, and who do we become because of it?
Artist Biography
Lisa Ledwick (b. 1986) is an artist and educator. Originally from Gqeberha, South Africa, she began her formal studies in Fine Art at Nelson Mandela University in 2005, later completing a master’s degree in 2015 with a focus on printmaking and mixed media, but with drawing remaining central to her practice. In 2019, she expanded her professional scope by earning a teaching qualification through the University of Nottingham (UK) and currently teaches IGCSE and A-Level Art at an international school.
Throughout her artistic journey, Ledwick has continued to cultivate her personal practice alongside her teaching. Her work has been exhibited internationally in California, Estonia, and Amsterdam, and locally in South Africa through competitions such as Sasol New Signatures and ABSA l’Atelier, where she was selected as a Top 100 finalist. The video adaptation of Soliloquy has featured in festivals across Cape Town, Johannesburg, Japan, and the Cannes Short Film Corner in France. She was also profiled in The Herald’s La Femme lifestyle publication.
Ledwick’s practice delves into themes of memory, myth, and psychological reflection, often revisiting traditional narratives through a feminist lens. Her upcoming exhibition with GFI Art Gallery in Gqeberha and the continued evolution of Soliloquy reflect her commitment to merging storytelling with visual symbolism to explore questions of identity, agency, and emotional transformation.
The public is invited to join Oliewenhuis Art Museum for the opening of Soliloquy. The opening will take place at 18:00 on Tuesday, 15 July 2025 at Oliewenhuis Art Museum. Everyone is welcome and entrance is free of charge. Refreshments will be served.
A walkabout of the exhibition will be conducted by the artist at 10:00 on Wednesday, 16 July 2025.
The exhibition can be viewed until Sunday, 24 August 2025. Oliewenhuis Art Museum is located at 16 Harry Smith Street, Bloemfontein and is open to the public from Monday to Friday between 08:00 and 17:00, and on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays between 09:00 and 16:00. A ramp at the entrance of the main entrance provides access for wheelchairs, while a lift provides access to the Permanent Collection display areas on the 1st floor. A R10 parking fee will be charged, payable in cash only, but entrance to the museum is free.
For more information on Oliewenhuis Art Museum please contact the Museum at 078 968 4300 or oliewen@nasmus.co.za. Stay up to date by following Oliewenhuis Art Museum on Facebook, Instagram and X for all upcoming exhibitions and events.
