An other than human silence – sound resides in the stillness of rocks

Amy Rusch is a multidisciplinary South African artist whose practice explores material culture, time, and embodied experience through a process-intensive engagement with found plastics and machine stitching. Working in layered, translucent surfaces, Rusch transforms discarded materials into intricate compositions that register the rhythms of making – the hum of the sewing machine, the repetition of gesture, the accumulation of mark. Her works operate across temporal scales, tracing connections between human time and geological deep time, informed by archaeological fieldwork, oceanic crossings, and microscopic studies of the natural world. Both tactile and conceptual, her practice treats material as a site of memory and translation. Rusch has exhibited widely, including at Zeitz MOCAA, Norval Foundation, and the Iziko South African National Gallery, and continues to maintain an active studio practice alongside her involvement in archaeological and research-based projects.