Michele Silk was born in Cape Town but grew up in Zimbabwe where she completed a BA Honours degree in Fine Art with Unisa. She immigrated to South Africa mid-1996 and settled in Durban where she is a practising artist.

In 2003 she completed a post–graduate diploma with distinction in painting at UKZN, Pietermaritzburg followed by a Master’s degree which she completed in January 2007. Silk is a multi-disciplined artist finding expression in painting, sculpture, printing and photography. Drawing inspiration from the figurative form, her environment and life experiences, she interprets different aspects of the human condition that are sometimes personal but also universal and encompass the physical, spiritual and mental spheres of human existence. She has previously incorporated various themes such as marginality, frailty and mortality and is constantly engaged in interpreting the world around her in new ways.

Silk artworks explore her interactions with old people in her society; she spends hours at the shopping centre and old age homes observing the elderly, trying to understand how they live. In today’s society aging can be frowned upon, it is something that society turns us away from; however Silk celebrates aging in her body of work and she believes that it is something that represents a rich life full of experiences and knowledge.