Leigh Tuckniss (b.1989) is a visual artist, painter, based in Cape Town, South Africa. Working as a painter her practice is auto-biographical, and is currently concerned with issues surrounding mental health and her postpartum experiences. She uses multiple painterly mediums and surfaces, moving between strong gestural marks and delicate layers and washes. Tuckniss interrogates themes of identity, loss, grief, trauma and belonging. Inspired by the universal currency and the gesture of flowers being exchanged in celebration and in loss, she explores her reckoning with early motherhood through botanical signifiers.
Tuckniss graduated in 2010, BAFA at Michaelis School of Fine Art at UCT. She has also worked as a visual art teacher (Senior Phase) after doing her PGCE through UCT in 2016. Her artwork has been exhibited in both solo and group shows, and can also be found in private and institutional collections.
2022, Cape Town, Solo Exhibition “Floribunda”, 3rd -30th November, Artist Admin Gallery
2016 Cape Town, South Africa Solo Exhibition “Chronicle” at Repeat After Me
2013 Cape Town, South Africa
Solo Exhibition “Music at Night” at The Studio, Kalk Bay
2013 Cape Town, South Africa
Solo Exhibition “Metanoia” at The Studio, Kalk Bay
2023,Cape Town, Group Exhibition, “Art Under The Bed - JHB Edition”
2023, Cape Town, Group Exhibition, “Art Under The Bed - Winter Edition”, private residence of Vanessa Cowling
2022, Cape Town, Group Exhibition, “Art Under The Bed”, private residence of Vanessa Cowling
2022, Cape Town, “Thresholds” Sessions Group Show 4th – 11th October, curated by Dominque Edwards, 196 Victoria Gallery in Woodstock
2022, Riekbeek Kasteel, “In Utero” Group Show 2nd – 30th October, curated by Emma Aspeling, RK Contemporary Gallery
2021, Cape Town, Group Exhibition, “Art Under The Bed”, private residence of Vanessa Cowling
2021, Garden Route South Africa, Group Exhibition, “Evoking Art 2.0”, Ingrid Russ Fine Art Gallery
2020, Cape Town, Group Exhibition, “Home Is Where The Art Is”, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA)
2020, Cape Town, Group Exhibition, “Art Under The Bed”, private residence of Vanessa Cowling
2017 Cape Town, South Africa Group Exhibition “Ebb and Flow” at Repeat After Me
2017 Cape Town, South Africa Group Exhibition “Novel” at Repeat After Me
2016 Cape Town, South Africa Group Show “Stellar” at Salon91 Gallery
2014 Cape Town, South Africa Group Exhibition “Art of Objects” at The Studio
2014 Cape Town, South Africa Group Exhibition “SKULLDUGGERY” at The Studio
2014 Cape Town, South Africa Group Exhibition “Face to Figure” at The Studio
2013 Cape Town, South Africa Group Show “Drawing Your Own Conclusions” at The Studio
2013 Cape Town, South Africa Group Show “One in a Million” at Salon91 Gallery
2013 Cape Town, South Africa Group Show “Pieces and Puzzles” at Lovell Gallery
2011 Cape Town, South Africa Group Show “This Must Be the Place” at Brundyn + Gonsalves
2010 Cape Town, South Africa Graduate Show at the Michaelis School of Fine Art.
2009 Cape Town, South Africa
Group Show “Undiscovered Graduates” at Vansa Headquarters
https://artistadmin.co.za/portfolio-item/leigh-tuckniss-floribunda/
The South African Artist Magazine, feature interview, Issue 64, October 2021
http://ourfriends.co/imagine/art/leigh-tuckniss-ink-a-love-affair/
https://10and5.com/2014/09/02/featured-ink-paintings-by-leigh-tuckniss/
https://www.zigzag.co.za/featured/with-leigh-tuckniss/
UCT Art collections
RockFig Safari Lodge
Art Gazette
Google UX Design foundations course, 2023
Sessions – A Studio Support Program for Visual Artists, 2022,
Emily Ball Seawhite Studio – Floribunda Online Painting Course 2021
The Working Artist- Master Class, Online education Christa Coutlier, 2021
PGCE Senior Phase Visual Art Teaching 2016