Sean Blem completed his first residency at NIROX in 2014, where he created a body of work titled Hyperextension. Through sculpture and painting Blem merged his interests in communication and language — evident in earlier series like Form (2004–2011) — with anatomy and object resonance; how particular forms take on a life of their own.

On his return in 2016, Blem created the Mastaba series, cross-referencing early memories with one of the most ancient and resilient pre-pyramidic forms. That said, Blem is not one to explain his work, opting to set up the parameters for audiences to experience it on their own terms.

His work often includes hidden references or aspects that are unknown, from choice pigments and the coating of works to specific material decisions, which all contribute to Blem’s multi-referential vocabulary.

Produced from wild olive, his latest body of work continues the evolution of this engagement with materials, drawing on the structural and medicinal properties of indigenous wood and its cultural and historic resonance in South Africa and further afield.