Nel Gallery, a Cape Town–based art gallery, is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition of the promising South African artist Werner Ungerer. Titled I Walk on Gilded Splinters, the show will be on view from May 7 through the end of the month. Read on to learn more about the artist and the distinctive creative language behind his work.
Werner Ungerer is a South African artist whose practice exists at the intersection of the literary and the visual. Deeply influenced by calligraphy, he transforms text into a central artistic medium. His work merges digital processes with archaic techniques, often requiring years of meticulous, system-driven labor.
Ungerer has gained international recognition for elevating written language to the level of fine art. His works incorporate pen and ink on fine papers, hand-illuminated textiles, and intricate embroidery. For the artist, calligraphy carries a profound spiritual dimension, rooted in focus, discipline, and presence.
Through his practice, Ungerer explores themes of identity, faith, desire, and the complexities of contemporary life.
At its core, I Walk on Gilded Splinters asks a difficult question: can art help us endure everything? The series brings together works in calligraphy, ink, embroidery, and drawing, each reflecting on grief, inherited trauma, the shadow self, and the societal expectations of masculinity that often enforce silence.
Created over five years (2021–2026), the series was profoundly shaped by the loss of the artist’s brother to suicide in 2023. Each piece becomes a deeply personal and unflinching confrontation with a subject often left unspoken. Ungerer challenges this silence, presenting it as a form of harm in itself, and invites viewers into a space of emotional reflection.
All works are entirely handmade and incorporate intimate texts drawn from the artist’s diaries and elegiac writings. The embroidered pieces, in particular, stand out as both monumental artworks and acts of therapeutic endurance.
The exhibition centers on the concept of the shadow self—an unacknowledged, often destructive aspect of the psyche. Rather than seeking to eliminate these inner forces, Ungerer explores the possibility of acknowledging and containing them in ways that are less self-destructive.
Without offering easy answers, I Walk on Gilded Splinters invites visitors to engage with shared experiences of grief and healing through art.
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