Welcome to Martin Steyn's website.
 

Martin Steyn is a South African artist who has been living in the Netherlands for 23 years. He studied Fine Arts at the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa.  In 1992 he won the Sasol New signatures prize for young Artists in South Africa.  Since then he has had numerous exhibitions in South Africa, The Netherlands, Austria and The United States of America. 

His work has always been related to migration and the socio-political implications it brings with it.  His current work (Port als) which he has been working on for the past year deals with the migration of people to Europe in search of a better life.  People have left their ruins behind to find peace and happiness on a new horizon.  Embedded in his  abstract horizons are Islamic texts and patterns with heavenly light.  The message is one of peace and joy. 

 In his earlier work (Samenleven) the theme is very topical: the different population groups in a country who are in search of their own comfortable living space which in turn changes the landscape. Since his arrival in The Netherlands he has observed how people of different cultures are also trying to find their place. The arrival of thousands of asylum seekers / refugees each year to a relatively small country with limited living space has created tension amongst some of the Dutch inhabitants. The problems which arise from living together are often blamed on the newcomers which has resulted in a bad media image of the foreign immigrant today. It is becoming more difficult to share available space without tension resulting.