For over a century the theme of landscape has been endemic to the South African psyche - whether as a pantheistic metaphor, a means to bolster the romanticized master-narrative of Afrikaner Nationalism, or to reflect the splintering of that narrative.

Since 2004 landscape has also been a recurring refrain in Philippa Allen's oeuvre - vast charcoal vistas unimpeded by human or industrial presence. Yet 'Around a mountain' evokes none of that. Hers is an unavoidably contemporary, urbanised perspective of the landscape – snatches and snaps of the city’s topography, taken while busy with her daily routine.

"On one hand, they represent snapshots; literally taken from my car while I’m busy with daily, humdrum tasks," she explains." Yet, on the other, they are scenes that transport me beyond the monotony of these daily activities and paradoxically offer me comfort through their familiarity. "

Executed in charcoal and acrylic, the works are titled according to the time of day during which they were photographed. As such, they are imbued with subtle shifts in light and shade, magnifying objects, streets and skylines as she hurtles past them.

But the artist’s relationship with these images, her translation of these snapshots into immutable images, and our response to them are inevitably complex. Although recognisable, there is a strangeness about them that evokes neither the specifics of time nor place. They are evocative as much of memories as they are of mountains, both literal and metaphoric. Their charcoal contours become brooding silhouettes, mitigated by delicately interwoven threads of colour. And they are framed, not as pristine scenes untainted by human or industrial footprint but rather with the inclusion of both.

Cape Town is, of course, the locus of 'Around a mountain'. Yet despite its "site"-specificity, 'Around a mountain' conveys a topography that simultaneously conforms to and subverts our expectations. A momentary halt at a traffic light in mid-morning; a pause behind a branch forming an arc over the skyline … such are the moments, the spaces and the breaths between the mundane rituals - the mountains - that comprise a day in a life.

'Around a mountain' is set to launch on Wednesday, 13 February at 18:00 at The Banard Gallery. The guest speaker will be Nike Romano. The exhibition will then run until Thursday, 14 March.