Peters’ journey begins not in the formal art institutions, but in the heart of Johannesburg’s inner city during apartheid. Raised in Kliptown, she pursued art with curiosity, boldness, and self-determination. At ten years old, she travelled alone by bus into the city, navigating Diagonal and Bree Streets, and visited galleries along the way. In her own words:
“At the age of 10, I used to take the bus and get off in the town of Joburg, in Diagonal and Bree Street. I was traveling already and was not scared of anything. I went to Bree Street and I found this art school — wow, it was really, really beautiful! I’d look at a painting where a person painted water, stones and trees, and I was amazed… I just did my thing. That made me really mad about art, and that made me an artist.
The sheer bravery of navigating the city alone, combined with her disciplined training in karate since age six, allowed her to traverse streets that many adults would find intimidating. This early independence, curiosity, and courage were foundational to her development as an artist. Peters’ excitement and fascination with observing techniques, understanding light, form, and texture in painting, became a self-directed study that rivaled formal education. The absence of books and resources did not deter her; instead, it propelled her to experiment, observe, and create relentlessly.
Her commitment to art at such a young age demonstrates not only innate talent but also the profound determination to claim a space in a world that often excluded young Black girls from the arts. This formative experience embodies the duality of her exhibition’s title: running with the wolves in the face of societal constraints, while playing with the eagles through imagination, joy, and self-expression.
Before this formative encounter, she was carving her own path literally selling tomatoes to buy linocut plates or scratching designs into discarded trays to create early prints. The physical risk embedded in this practice underscores her devotion to craft and the material intensity of her early engagement with art. These modest acts were acts of survival, resistance, and self-definition in a society that often denied Black bodies safety and recognition.

THE ARTIST AS WITNESS AND STORYTELLER

Sophie Peters’ work bears witness to South Africa’s turbulent past while celebrating ordinary life with enduring dignity. Her oeuvre is people-centred, religiously
charged, and committed to social realism. Women, children, families, and communities populate her prints, paintings, and sculptures, often engaged in prayer, reflection, work, or play. Through these representations, Peters documents ordinary life in extraordinary times, capturing resilience, humour, and agency.
Her early paintings from the 1980s such as the one aptly titled Kliptown House, pay homage to Kliptown, the township that raised her. These pieces subtly document the erasure and silenced demolition of the area, preserving memory in the face of social and historical loss. Later works continue to explore spiritual, social, and communal themes while demonstrating her evolving technical mastery.