Sven Christian [SC]: What drew you to the totem-like form, and is that a word that you would use to describe a lot of the works on exhibition? You also seem to draw from pre-history and I was curious about this?

Johann Moolman [JM]: A totem for me is a universal symbol of humanity. The verticality is a direct symbol of the human form, and the human condition. I find a lot of inspiration in mythology archeology, and in the past. For me, it’s making a link with the past. So they’re not about contemporary issues, but universal spiritual issues. 

SC: Then there are other works that appear quite playful or whimsical, like the colourful, abstract and figurative works in wood? 

JM: The flat wooden pieces are my very last works. A lot of the titles are ‘Place of…’ So for example, Place of the rain dance , or Place of the nubile initiation. They’re symbols for meaning outside. In other words, the spectator is invited to imagine that place, and the ritual that can be performed there. So the title, I think, is very important, because that draws the spectator in to partake of the work. 

SC: That resonates, because they’re very centring, in a way. There’s a grounding that happens, and I think that’s applicable to your other tall, vertical works in steel and so on, too. Which leads me to your choice of materials — the decision to work in, say, steel or wood? 

JM: Sven, you know, very often it depends on what’s available. I have no particular preference, so I use what’s lying around. I work very intuitively. Very often the material dictates the form, and very often the idea calls for a specific material, but I have no particular preference, except perhaps bronze. It’s a very precious, long-lasting material, so it’s wonderful to have a piece in bronze. You’ll notice there’s quite a selection of small bronze totems, but they’re mostly based on my interest in archeology and ancient mythology. 

SC: Where does that interest stem from? 

JM: It goes back a long way. My grandmother used to be an avid museum-goer. She used to live in the Johannesburg Library, and while she was doing her research, I would play in the Johannesburg Library Museum. I think that’s where it was born. I suppose also living in a rural environment, close to nature. I’m an avid stone-age collector. There’s nothing more wonderful than picking up a hand-axe and making contact with many, many thousands of years. Those experiences have a subconscious effect on my vision and my feel. 

SC: Your description of picking up an axe makes me think about the four bronze works, that I’m told you initially exhibited on the ground. For me they look quite utilitarian, but in some way they also seem kind of magical — they feel loaded, beyond function. 

JM: Those are symbols of male and female. You’ll notice that they use African shapes. A lot of my work is based on the male and female yin-yang idea. I think life is about opposites. The one can’t exist without the other — the one defines the other — and our existence is male / female, so a lot of my work refers to sun and moon, for example, which is the male and female factor. 

SC: What you’re saying reminds me of some of the early pages of Indaba My Children, by Credo Mutwa. 

JM: Credo Mutwa, yes. I was friends with Credo Mutwa at one stage, when I was teaching in Bophuthatswana, in Mahikeng, and met him quite a few times. For me, the shaman is very important. I believe that the artist is a type of shaman, a connection between earth and the heavens, or the energies that are unseen. 

SC: The artist Bruce Arnott shared a similar philosophy, in many ways. Did you ever meet? 

JM: That’s interesting, because I have a lot of respect for his work. I know about him, but he was a generation slightly ahead of me, and of course he was down in Cape Town, so me being a northerner, I didn’t have contact with him. 

SC: He was also very interested in the continuity of time and the way that things resonate across time, like what you said about picking up that axe and feeling that connection. 

JM: Yes, it’s about energy. I hope that the work I produced emanates and shines a particular energy, which takes the viewer back in time. 

SC: I guess exhibiting in the context of the Cradle of Humankind feels pretty apt, then?

JM: You know, as a child I used to play at the Sterkfontein Caves, when it was totally open. There was nothing and nobody. That was my playground. I suppose that’s where I made contact with the old spirits. But talking in that vain, it’s a great honour for me to exhibit at NIROX because it’s also a rural environment, and a very special rural environment. Groot Marico, where I live, is very rich with ancient artefacts, so there were living beings there thousands of years ago. At the same time, it’s been a great challenge to create art with a contemporary feel, isolated in a rural area. I’ve had to really tune myself into what’s going on in the art world. 

SC: I’m sure it’s also quite a contrast to your earlier time as a student in London. 

JM: Absolutely. But it wasn’t an adaption. I just knew that that’s where I need to be. 

SC: I noticed a number of your works include these inscriptions, not dissimilar to those found in Blombos Cave and so on?

JM: Ja, absolutely. There’s a red totem with calligraphy on, which I titled Place of the first written word (___). Then there’s a little piece, also with a type of calligraphy on it, which I call Place of the scribe (___). I’ve spent many hours looking for rock art and rock engravings. That contact has played a very important role in the output, nature, and type of work that I produce. 

SC: Is there a correlation for you between rock art and relief work? 

JM: Absolutely. All my relief pieces are sculpture, but they’re sculpture in relief. 

SC: We worked on an exhibition, not long ago, called Layers: Rock Art Across Space and Time, which brought together rock art scholars from different parts of the world. One spoke about the spatial aspect of rock art — the use of the rock itself; its form, as an integral part of the work — which isn’t something I’d considered. 

JM: North, south, east, west. The sun and the moon — their effect on the image of the engraved rock art. They include the universe. It’s universal energies that are encapsulated there, and that’s what I hope to do with my own work.