On the veranda is a set of limited-edition
ceramic artist plates in Perspex housings. These
are from the Orange Babies Plate Project, which
Marina organised in partnership with Goodman
Gallery. In addition to serving on the board for the
organisation, Marina is a successful entrepreneur
and restaurateur, as well as an author and an
HIV/AIDS education programme developer.
Her love of art goes back many years. She began
collecting more than two decades ago, and has
built her collection in close collaboration with
Liza Essers of Goodman Gallery. Marina says
that her approach to collecting centres around
having an emotional connection with a work and
wanting to live with it, even if this is challenging.
One such work – and a favourite of Marina’s
- is a 2.5m-high drawing from Diane Victor’s
Theatrical Character series that depicts a woman
(modelled on the artist) kneeling in prayer on
a chair. For Marina, it represents the inevitability
of time passing and the corporeal changes that
come with it. The piece hangs in the double-
volume stairway adjacent to a painting by
William Kentridge from his 2007 The Nose series.
Downstairs, a carved jelutong wood sculpture
by Peter Schütz of a woman holding a basket of
eggs is Marina’s most beloved artwork; the eggs,
she says, remind her of the omnipresent evil eye
in her native Greek culture.
Marina has similar personal connections to all
of the artworks in her collection. A photographic
work by Broomberg & Chanarin from the duo’s
Bandage The Knife Not the Wound exhibition is
the newest addition to Marina and Robert’s joint
collection. She was drawn to the piece from a
theatrical, sartorial perspective, while for Robert,
the striped garments depicted conjured up the
garb of Jewish concentration camp inmates.
Like the two oceans that meet at Cape Agulhas,
Robert’s and Marina’s home is an amalgamation
of each of their distinct styles, as well as a host
to their extensive collections. The result is
a quirky, unfussy family abode with a whole
lot of personality. O jvrarchitects.co.za