South African botanical artist. Gillian Condy was born in Nairobi, Kenya, but grew up in England. After obtaining a vocational diploma in graphics and scientific illustration at Middlesex Polytechnic, she took a summer job in the exhibition section of the Natural History Museum London, drawing insects, before continuing her training at the Royal College of Art. Her degree project, British Poisonous Plants, received a Grenfell Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society.
After graduating, she freelanced in London and in spring 1977 was the accompanying artist on a five-week botanical expedition to Andulasia organised by J.W. Carr. Her herbarium and botanical art from this journey are now housed at Reading University (RNG).
In 1978 she was sent to Botswana by the International Voluntary Service (UK) to work as an artist in the Phuthdikobo Museum, Mochudi. Two years later she returned to England via Malawi and Kenya but after a few months working for a company that marketed crafts from developing countries she returned to Botswana, having obtained a contract as an artist with the Ministry of Education. In this job she produced children's and teacher's magazines as well as illustrated material for the primary curriculum, and helped run the education centre in Lobatse.
Since 1983 she has been the resident botanical artist at SANBI in Pretoria. Her artwork has appeared in Curtis's Botanical Magazine as well as SANBI publications, including more than 200 plates for Flowering Plants of Africa. She has illustrated two books by Charles Graib, Geophytic Pelargoniums (2001) and South African Grass Aloes in the Field (2005), and provided most of the biographical entries for South African Botanical Art: Peeling Back the Petals (2006).
A founding member of the Botanical Artists Association of Southern Africa, she exhibits widely both nationally and internationally and has received a number of awards for her artwork, including the Jill Smythies Award from the Linnean Society of London, the Cythna Letty medal from the Botanical society of South Africa, and medals from the 2002 Kirstenbosch Biennale. In addition to designing 14 sets of postal stamps for Botswana, she produced a special series of Clivia stamps for South Africa in 2006. She presented President Nelson Mandela with a painting, Mandela's Gold, on his official visit to Kirstenbosch in 1996.
Sources:
Personal communication, January 2007.
