Does anyone else find it hard to speak about themselves? because I definitely do. However, I thought it only fitting to introduce the Artist behind the… Art.
Let’s start at the very beginning… A very good place to start… (shout out to Sound of Music).
I am originally South African, so was born and lived there until I was 8. My family and I then moved over to the United Kingdom in 2004, just before my 9th birthday to start a church which was based in
I went to school in Woodstock, for both Primary and Secondary years and despite a few occurrences, I loved it. When I was younger, school and education was always something I enjoyed. It was around secondary school, I’d say when I was 15/16 years old, that I really started getting into my art and finding out its many therapeutic abilities. I was bullied in school, but art helped me escape all of that and put my focus into something that would only bring me joy.
When I was in Sixth Form, so around 16/17, most of my time was sent in the art block. I was there every single free period I had, every single break or lunch, and you guessed it… I was the first person in that classroom (mainly because I never left). I owe a lot of my art prowess (big word Cameron) to my teachers. Also a massive shout out to the AMAZING art technician Mel who was so patient with all my crazy ideas and projects. Every single one of them believed in me when I didn’t and pushed me to achieve top grades (which I’m so grateful I achieved).
The Artist in me takes a Back Seat (But never leaves)
The next stage of my life took me to an Art Foundation at Oxford Brookes where I studied for a year. This was also an amazing experience where I learnt so much and (besides being more of a fine artist) focused on fashion.
Side note – During this time I was also competing and training in Latin
American dance alongside that… But that’s coming…
So coming to the end of my foundation year, I had to start looking into what universities I wanted to attend and what i was going to study. I applied for 4 fashion courses, and 1 dance course.
Ok Cameron, where did the dancing come from?
Well… when I was 12, my mom took me to a Latin dance camp during the summer holidays with my best friend at the time and I was hooked. I started training more and soon was competing and getting to a pretty high level. BUT, was always torn between my dance and art. I had always been good at art (not to sound big-headed), but it was always something that I knew I was good at and sort of came naturally so for next couple of years the artist in me took a back seat.
Dancing was something that I constantly had to push myself in both physically and mentally, so when this dance course came up at Buckinghamshire New University, I jumped at the opportunity. I had the open day, audition and interview and was accepted straight away… and never turned up to any of my other fashion interviews (i know… naughty).
You are a Dancing Queen
That takes me onto my dancing years. BA Hons in Dance and Performance at Buckinghamshire New University… How exciting.
As we know… university is one HELL of a ride. I don’t think any of my teachers knew who I was the first year… but I was living my best life being away from home for the first time. What can I say… we were enjoying ourselves.
I have always loved dance for its ability to not only physically test your bodies in ways that normal gym or exercise may not be able to, but also for the ways in which it mentally prepares you for a lot of situations not only its daily life but also work life.
The artist in me also loved (and still does) the way human beings can create shapes and stories with their bodies… much like paintings can… which is probably why both art forms appealed to me.
These 3 years made me realise a lot about myself and especially now, who I want to be and the people i want to surround myself with. I have honestly made friends for life and once all this Corona rubbish is over, I can’t wait to see them all, especially to road trip up to see my best friend Daniela #dynamicduo (our uni name haha).
That’s pretty much most of my life up until now.
‘Meet the Artist’ over and out.
