Louiza Combrinck is a Bloemfontein-based artist and researcher, whose practice has been largely influenced by childhood experiences of her Southern Free State family farm and the boundless, sublime landscapes. Combrinck completed her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree (cum laude) in 2020, at the University of the Free State, and went on to obtain a Bachelors of Arts Honours degree with a specialisation in Art History and Image Studies (cum laude) in 2021. She currently teaches parttime at the UFS as a Junior Lecturer in Art History and Image Studies, while also working to complete her MA in Fine Arts. In 2022, Combrinck was invited to become a member of the Free State Art Collective, a prestigious collaborative group of Free State artists.

Her practice includes the use of multiple mediums such as painting, video, digital photomontage, and AI image generation, and investigates sensuous experiences of land, horison, space, and spacetime. Her broader research interests include themes related to the artistic imagination, the wonder, discovery, and exploration of land-and- sky, as well as the complicated possession and demarcation of land in South Africa. More recently, her attention has turned to Artificial Intelligence imaging programs and Astro-imaging, which includes NASA images of Martian terrain, deep space, and humanity’s galactic origins in the Milky Way.

During her time at the UFS, Combrinck has received various academic awards for achievements in both fine art and art history modules, participated in several student exhibitions at the Johannes Stegmann Gallery, was included in exhibitions at the Vrystaat Arts Festival in 2018, and was a finalist in the local Phatshoane Henney New Breed competition in 2018 and 2021. In 2022, her work was included in the Romancing the Stone group exhibition at the KZNSA Gallery, the Making and Interpreting Art in 2022 virtual exhibition for postgraduate students hosted by UJ, and the Equilibrium group exhibition hosted by the Free State Art Collective, at the Ark. Contemporary Gallery in Rosendal. In 2023 Combrinck’s work is included in the prestigious national art competition, SASOL New Signatures’ top 100 exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum.