ADELLE VAN ZYL
ARTIST

In this body of work, I explore our connection to the land, its animals, and the myths that shaped our understanding of both. My inspiration comes from a recent visit to the Kalahari. In that magical place, where the geology of the desert reflects its formation from prehistoric lakes, I witnessed the dichotomies of nature in terms of drought, heat, light, and visibility versus flood, cold, darkness, and concealment. This experience of the desert’s extremes led me to reimagine the concept of landscape.

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Having been introduced to the rich symbolism of alchemy by my mentor, Dr. Gwenneth Miller, I imagined seeing these landscapes through the eyes of the alchemist. For these medieval scientist-philosophers, stones contained spirits, minerals held potential panaceas, and animals mirrored the movement of the human soul through higher or lower states of being.

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I used abstracted details from previous photographic works and transformed them into reflective waterscapes populated with images of animals and objects. The process of selecting these images was both playful and instinctive. I use collage as a method of transmutation—one that mirrors the alchemical and psychological processes of separatio (separation) and conjunctio (union). In alchemy, this fragmentation and reconstitution create new, altered materials. Similarly, my collages reimagine the elements of the landscape to construct new narratives.

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Through this work, I aim to invite viewers into a space where the boundaries between nature and myth dissolve. By reimagining the landscape through the lens of alchemy, I seek to return to a deeper, more symbolic understanding of our relationship with nature and our inner selves.