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While the Mother City is her home base, Van Heerden's long-distance love affair with Joburg took on more concrete form during a printmaking residency with David Krut Projects in Maboneng in 2021. "I immediately fell in love with the place and its people," she says. "I remember I really developed an appreciation for Joburg's parks and greenery as my first project there was about green spaces such as Zoo Lake, The Wilds, The GreenHouse Project at Joubert Park, Delta Park, Melville Koppies, and Victoria Yards. I also loved exploring the city's municipal pools such as Linden Pool and Zoo Lake Swimming Pool. I went hiking in the Magaliesberg with [artists] Heidi Fourie, Johan Stegmann, and Allen Laing. It felt like I had found a parallel reality to Cape Town – with a different climate, surroundings, and very hospitable and friendly people who enjoyed interfacing and showing me around."
We caught up with Van Heerden to find out more about her art-making practice and ephemeral subject matter. She also shared a few of her Johannesburg faves. Works from the Signal series are available to purchase via Latitudes Online.
What is it about water that fascinates you? It seems to capture your intellect and imagination alike.
I'm an observer of water, and I'm fascinated by its ever-changing qualities. As a swimmer, I am drawn to municipal pools, lakes, and coastal shorelines. I try to articulate the feeling of swimming and the quality of water, its fluidity and ability to heal and nurture. I started swimming in 2021 after being diagnosed with an injury that needed a lot of rehabilitation in the water. This started a period of restless transformation; a lot of things in my life were changing at the time, and the water became a meditative and restorative place for me.
How has art, and your inclination towards making art, shaped your life?
Art-making is informed by life, and the other way around. I don't think I can separate the two. My interests and life experiences directly influence my practice.
You've said that your work is largely autobiographical – and yet it's not quite narrative-based, unless we start to pull on themes that travel throughout. Tell us more about what you mean by this?
All of my work is really conversations with myself. They are based on my own life experiences, water bodies I have spent time with, things I have read, and relationships and people that have had an effect on me. The underlying meaning of many of my works is often veiled as a form of self-protection, but glimpses are offered occasionally. The titles of works are often hints of what I was preoccupied with or thinking about at the time. Sometimes it's more of a feeling or an emotional state I'm trying to describe. Other times, I'm trying to communicate, or "Signal", through my work.
How do you strike a balance between play vs structure in your practice?
I collect ideas like a magpie, take photographs everywhere I go, make little drawings, and read a lot. I try to be open to new experiences and ideas, and I always try to find new places to see and explore. I try to see water as a teacher wherever I encounter it.
At the same time, I have quite a disciplined studio practice once I am in production mode, keeping strict hours and maintaining a healthy lifestyle to be able to keep this up. So I guess there is often an opposing dynamic of a more adventurous, explorative side of me versus a more structured routine of being at the studio...
Tell us about a piece you loved making recently, and why.
The most exciting work I made recently was Contain Multitudes (Pastel, Gouache and Aerosol on Drafting Film, 2025). This work was based on a visit to Zoo Lake Swimming Pool when I visited Joburg in 2024, the first time I participated in the RMB Latitudes art fair.
I arrived, ready for a swim, only to realise that the pool had been mostly emptied out. The water was about knee-deep, with green slime and willow tree leaves at the bottom. I was disappointed about not being able to swim, but found the green tinge of the water, algae, and leaves at the bottom of the pool very interesting from an aesthetic point of view. I had a lot of fun trying to paint this kind of scene for the first time, as my pools are usually turquoise or teal, and crystal clear. Using aerosol paint for the first time, I explored a new approach in my pursuit of ways to replicate the glistening of the sun on the surface of the water.
The title, Contain Multitudes, comes from [the poem] Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. In the poem, he emphasises individuality, about not being defined and tied down. He also often used symbolism of rotting leaves, tufts of straw, and debris in his work, and I found this relevant to my own subject.
Where did the Signal series start, and how did it evolve?
A signal is a gesture, action, or some kind of audio-visual cue that is used to convey information or instructions, typically by prearrangement between the parties concerned. It can also be an electrical impulse or radio wave transmitted or received. In the new series, I'm trying to see water as a signal, to glean or learn something from it. I pick up new ideas very idiosyncratically, from reading and music, then I piece things together intuitively to make meaning. I work with a visual lexicon of drawing, painting, photography, and material layering, and the results are fluid lines, which end up resembling signal and wave transmissions.
Highlights from exhibiting your series Signal at RMB Latitudes 2025?
Getting to meet so many amazing people, and introducing new viewers and young collectors to my work and practice. It was also a very sweet meeting of, and talking to people who have been following my journey for some years and already have one or two of my pieces in their collection.
Rapid-fire round: Six questions about Joburg
Favourite public swimming pool in Joburg?Linden Pool! It's indoor and open year-round, 07:00 – 19:00.
Favourite body of water in Gauteng and surrounds?
Do I have to choose? I love the Jukskei River and, of course, Zoo Lake, as well as Emmarentia Dam.
Favourite Joburg building?
Circa Gallery at Keyes Art Mile is a must every time.
Best meal you’ve had in the city – where and why?
The mushroom and aubergine pasta from Il Contadino [in Parktown North] warmed me right up on a very cold winter night.
One thing in Joburg a visitor should not leave without seeing or doing?
An inner city bicycle tour! See all the important buildings and places in the city, and learn about the history of Johannesburg.
Joburg in three words?
Fast, exciting, colourful.
Visit adelevanheerden.com and follow @adelevanheerdencreative on Instagram to keep up to date.
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