When did you first identify as a creative artist?
It was when I was a student caught up in the 1976 student uprising and the years that followed. You were confronted by the existential question: what is the contribution you can make to the struggle?
I figured the only meaningful skill I possessed was my art skills and so I started to get involved with the production of political posters, the design of the covers of all manner of publications and poetry anthologies, and so on. I devoted my energies to these activities almost to the point of sacrificing my own dreams of being an artist in my own right. But those dreams were too strong and all this meant was that these experiences eventually got absorbed into my own personal creativity.
Outside your medium, which branch of art most stimulates you?
I consider myself to be a visual artist first and foremost, so outside this medium it has to be music. But the music-making evolved out of the visual art activities later in my life when I became interested in researching my own ancestry in the context of studying South African history on a deeper level.
What opened up for me was the exposure to our indigenous cultural history and specifically the complex Khoisan identity issues and how these things play out in our contemporary society.
I discovered the rich history of Khoisan music and musical instruments and found it so inspiring that it began to find expression in my personal creativity, to the extent that I have become a self-taught musician as well as still being deeply involved in visual art.
From left: Garth Erasmus, Carina Khorkhordina, Stefan Schneider, Peter Thiessen and Ruth May perform at the Raketenfestival in Neuss, Germany, on 1 June. (Photo: Supplied)
Which artists have significantly inspired you, and why?
In terms of visual art, I was lucky as a young man to have had some serious mentors on the local art scene during the 1980s, which were my formative years. I refer specifically to Lionel Davis, David Koloane and Bill Ainslie.
These men have been giants of South African art and I count myself lucky to have been in their company and to have absorbed their teachings, which remain with me.
By teachings I do not necessarily mean in the intellectual sense, but in the sense of dedication to their personal vision of what it means to be an artist during a time of great adversity – relevant to your community and with a sense of social commitment, and at the same time to pursue your own creativity with such dedication and perseverance that you discover your own unique voice.
What to you is art’s most important function?
Art is a platform for communication and the expression of feelings, thoughts and identities.
It has always been linked to the possibility of social change, and for me the artist acts as a mirror to society with its inherent power to inspire awareness from a point of introspection and contemplation.
Local creatives who excite you?
I’ve always loved the Afrikaans rap of my favourite local artists, Jethro Louw (my colleague in Khoi Khonnexion) and Isaac Herexvii Mutant. They are major artists who deserve so much more critical attention than they’ve received so far.
If we lived in a different society, they would be considered national treasures.
Which work do you return to again and again, and why?
I find the poetry of the Irish poet Seamus Heaney constantly inspiring and something I return to almost daily. His command of language, sense of imagery and powerful evocation of Irish life during the troubled times of that society is so reminiscent of our own experiences under apartheid.
What are your thoughts regarding the artificial intelligence revolution?
AI is worse than climate change.
Any project you’re unveiling or wrapping up?
I’ve just completed my involvement in the exhibition Oscillations at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. This was a major collaboration between German and South African artists with the emphasis on sound. I hope that it could be shown in South Africa one day.
At the same time that this was happening, a small German record label called Tal Records published a vinyl of my music produced during the past 10 years. The title is Threnody for the KhoiSan.
So, after the Berlin show opened, I spent another month in Germany on a concert tour promoting its release. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
