Amy Rusch: Where Sailing, Archaeology and Material Meet
Amy Rusch's work begins with things that carry traces. A piece of sailcloth records wind. A plastic bag records consumption. Sediment holds evidence of an ancient landscape. Thread records the movement of a hand and the passage of time. Across her practice, the Cape Town-based artist brings these materials together to explore movement, sound, memory, geology and the relationship between human time and the much larger timescales of the natural world. Rusch works across textile art, sculpture, drawing and mixed media, but no single category adequately describes her practice. She uses sewing as a form of drawing, salvaged materials as a kind of archive and physical experience as a source for abstraction. Sailing and archaeology provide two of her most important points of reference, giving her work a strong connection to both the ocean and the ancient landscapes of South Africa. Her growing reputation received a significant boost in 2026 when she won the inaugural Materiality Prize at ...
