For his first solo show with Southern Guild, Stanislaw Trzebinski creates an immersive collection of functional bronze sculptures inspired by his lifelong fascination with the ocean. In the Absence of Light evokes the mystical, suspended experience of a diver beneath the waves, encountering the still and otherworldly depths teeming with life. The works reference a rich array of living organisms such as coral, fungi and stalactites. A recurring motif is the artist’s interpretation of the Turing pattern, which models patterns found in nature – most apparent in brain coral, puffer fish and leopard markings. At once deeply familiar and otherworldly, the pieces beckon to a sense of the unknown, suggesting undiscovered life forms from the ocean – an idea given further weight by the inclusion of tiny LED lights that create the effect of bioluminescence.

Stanislaw grew up in Nairobi, Kenya in a richly creative household. Throughout his childhood, the pull of the ocean was ever-present. His father – the late artist Tonio Trzebinski – was an avid surfer and fisherman, and weekends were spent together free-diving, fishing and camping in Kenya’s outdoors, inspiring a reverence for nature that has stayed with the artist ever since. A talented artist from an early age, Stanislaw was gradually drawn most strongly to sculpture and on the strength of his portfolio attended the Pratt Institute in New York in 2011. There he came to the realisation that his creativity was intimately connected to Africa, its nature and people. He moved to Cape Town in 2012, to apprentice in sculpture and bronze casting at Bronze Age Foundry, and now works out of his own studio in Woodstock.

A percentage of the proceeds from sales of these works will go towards Local Ocean Conservation, a Kenyan not-for-profit organisation that works to protect the country’s marine environment through ocean conservation, education and outreach programmes.