Ani’s personality, passion and love for family is every bit the lively colour she captures in her art. 

This April was her very first family vacation to my hometown Cape Town, South Africa. It was also the very first time I got to meet Ani and her beautiful family, introduced to me as dear friends of my partner.

People and places

They’d come researched and ready with a list of places and things to see. Naturally, we had to add to their extensive list by including a stop for a South African classic, lemon Meringue Pie – I’m still uncertain if that was a hit or a miss for them:)

But what I am certain of is the interest Ani took in why I particularly enjoyed it – a sugary surge of sweet memory, decking the tables of every Christmas, 21st birthday and church bazaar. I could only ever manage a few mouthfuls though!

We got lost in conversation about food and it’s cultural significance and how these have shaped our relationship with food. Inevitably, we circled right back to our art (Artists, right?) and how loaded it is with memory and experience – how art binds us to place and to each other.

“Life is a roller coaster. Each stage of life has a different story. Just like in an amusement park, you start with a small carousel and as you get older you ride bigger and bigger roller coasters.”

On our visit up Chapman’s Peak, we left the group briefly. Strolling off the beaten track – to a spot overlooking the scenic Hout Bay fishing harbour, perched right on the edge of the ocean. At this height we were above the little port village, Ani could photograph the surface of the ocean appearing in so many incredible shades of blue, while big and small waves crashed onto the Hout Bay shoreline.

She’s an exceptionally talented artist and storyteller, a devoted partner and mother. She’s armoured with the kind of love and compassion that’s so bold it compels me to see – or at the very least, seek out vibrancy in the too familiar.

When she wasn’t sharing with me the tales of her home and family back in India, she was trying to cram “one last picture” in to her near-exhausted storage space, the way I might cram my suitcase the night before the return from a vacation. What happened to all that space?!

Check out my friend Ani’s story and the rest of her exquisite art:)