Interviewing Creative Folk / Yanni Van Zijl

Interviews

Yanni’s practice sparks important conversations about our place on earth and the mark we all leave, and she does so through beautiful art. Her work spans from site-specific, ephemeral works to installation, performance art, and sculpture. She has won a trillion awards and hosts workshops to inspire a new generation of eco-focused warriors. I was lucky to take part in a recent performance piece Yanni created with her artist’s group, Eco Trio. The piece spoke about the importance of the forest working together as a whole and I thought it was such a lovely commentary to take out into society! I cannot wait to see her life-sized concepts take on gigantic forms as she elevates her practice to an even higher level! Yanni is an absolute creative powerhouse and carries a brain/heart brimming full of inspiring ideas!

 

Thanks Yanni for taking the time to chat!

 

Sea Spirit – made in collaboration with Pam Walpole for SWELL – Image Source

 

1/ Favourite medium/material to work with and why?

As a multi-media artist everything and anything becomes material for making art, the tip shop is an artists treasure chest, the bush an amazing resource, the beach, worlds largest canvas, myself, film, sound video, milk bottles, don’t forget the milk bottles!

’ Scorched’ – Image Source

2/ Do you work quickly or slowly, or a combo of both?
Everything takes time, but sometimes a photo takes a nano second and you have a work of ART, but the thought behind the nano second took days, weeks or years, that’s the creative process. I have worked on one installation for 3 months, another I spent 12 months growing moss on a sculptural form.

Sculptural installation and winner at Sculpture on the Edge called ‘Anew’- Image Source

3/ What is your favourite artwork you’ve created?
Hmmm, that’s a hard one, I am proud of a video I made about Climate Change, I was the canvas, covered in mud and left out to dry for 2 hours and then carefully temporarily drowned to represent flood…I also loved a work I made with collaborator Pam Walpole called Ebb and Flow, it was 6 metres wide, 12 metres long and suspended over an 8 metre void.

Casuistry Extreme – still taken from video by Wes Green – Image Source

4/ What do you want people to take away from your work?
I hope that my work creates an opportunity for reflection, that it arouses a response, feeling, often the works have an environmental message, I hope that my environmental works motivate a positive change to peoples behaviour, at the every least create conversation.

Site-specific and Sculptural Work – Image Source

5/ Can you share your future vision (aka ‘the big dream’ view)?
Big Dream, I have a desire to create 8 metre tall inflatable polar bears that are inflated by people pedal pushing bikes to generate power in order to inflate them, obviously a work about climate change and loss of habitat for polar bears, the pedal power a statement that we need to be looking at cleaner energy options.

Swell Festival – Image Source

Where to find & follow Yanni

Instagram: @yanni_artist_photographer

Website: yannivanzijl.com

Ebb and Flow – Image Source

THANKS YANNI!

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