Anna van der Ploeg for Gibela by FEDE Arthouse
Anna van der Ploeg, (b.1992) is a South African contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice encompasses painting, printmaking, and sculpture. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2015 and completed her Master of Fine Arts with high distinction at KASK Royal Academy School of Arts in Belgium in 2022.
Van der Ploeg’s work delves into themes of relationships, power dynamics, and the interplay between internal and external landscapes. She often explores how interactions are perceived differently by individuals involved, capturing moments in states of change. Her artistic approach is informed by her experiences in beekeeping, which she describes as a stimulating well of ideas and parallels.
Van der Ploeg’s work aligns with broader dialogues around cultural consciousness and the evolving role of artistic production in negotiating identity, space, and belonging. Her practice resists monocultural narratives by situating personal experience within larger social and historical contexts.
Your work spans painting, printmaking, and sculpture, how do these mediums interact in your practice, and what about each speaks to you?
Usually, I’m either drawn to a medium first, and then the idea feels right for that medium, or it starts with a concept that seems to align with a particular medium. I enjoy that fluidity. I’m always interested in finding new forms.
There’s a technical appeal to working beyond just concepts, and I really appreciate that in other artists as well those who embrace a free approach to exploration. It’s about unbounded creativity, allowing themselves to make different kinds of work beyond what they might be known for.
Much of your work explores power dynamics and shifting perspectives. How do you navigate the tension between personal experience and broader social narratives in your art?
Well, my work is never really directly personal, so I often approach it with a more scholarly lens. I’d say that focusing on it as work helps eliminate some of that tension. If I were creating art more as a hobby or my only avenue for self-expression, I think the tension would be different my personal experience would seep in more naturally.
Of course, everything we create is informed by our experiences, so it’s always connected to the personal in some way. But there comes a point when I sit down at my desk and shift into “art worker” mode. In those moments, I’m just doing my job, and it’s not all about my personal life coming to the table.
How do you see contemporary art reshaping the way we tell stories and perceive history, especially when it challenges conventional narratives and representation?
I think this relates to why I feel it’s important, not necessarily to be undisciplined, but to be interdisciplinary. That idea is closely linked to the concept of the contemporary: What does it mean for something to be contemporary? Is it contemporary simply because it exists in the present, or is there something intrinsic that makes it so? These questions extend to medium, exhibition curation, and artistic practice. In a way, they’ve been a catalyst for developing my writing, because there’s something about the written medium that feels like a direct, interpersonal, contemporary act.
As it relates to storytelling, I see space for newness within the medium itself. But I don’t always feel entirely convinced by materials alone. When I think about contemporary art, I realise there aren’t many written works that stop me in my tracks, yet there are plenty of moments and experiences that do. That’s where I find nourishment and inspiration for the importance of contemporary art.
A lot of that inspiration comes from lived experiences, from the things I see, from performance, from human interactions, and from the collaborative act of making culture or telling stories. Traditional storytelling, in its essence, is deeply tied to these relationships.
This is a difficult question to answer because contemporary art is vast, and we all engage with it in different ways. To respond more clearly, I’d need to break down the kinds of contemporary art I consume, how I engage with each form differently, and what my ideal experience of communing with art would be especially art that intentionally speaks to the present moment.
How do you approach the process of translating complex concepts like identity and power into visual language, and what role do you think interpretation plays in your work?
I think my role is that of a deeply sensitive person who cares about these topics. I also have a high tolerance for nuance and obliqueness and exist in a world of grace, where the freedom of imagination is incredibly important to me.
At times, this can be challenging in my own work because it may seem evasive or lacking in specificity. However, at its core because of my interests power is always reflected in the final work in a layered way, containing the depths of my thoughts, research, and emotions.
With your global practice, how do you blend local influences with universal themes? How do you keep that balance between the particular and the universal in your work?
Well, the particular is universal, right? So I’m not too wary of being increasingly specific. In fact, I find that the more specific you are, paradoxically, the more relatable things become perhaps because specificity creates a sense of intimacy. When you offer a very particular example, it gives others space to reflect on and value their own specific experiences, lives, and material.
