Eight questions for the interested and interesting: Sue Williamson

Whether you’ve admired her work in a gallery or come across it in a book, chances are you’ve encountered Sue Williamson’s distinctive take on South Africa’s history, memory and identity. The Cape Town-based artist has been creating thought-provoking work for decades and is widely regarded as one of the country’s leading contemporary artists. We are life-long fans.

Her new book, There’s Something I Must Tell You, accompanies her major retrospective at the Iziko South African National Gallery and launches at The Book Lounge in Cape Town on July 30, where she’ll be in conversation with Sean O’Toole. Ahead of the launch, we put our eight questions to her.

What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year, and why?

The best book I’ve read recently is Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy. As I get older, I often enjoy autobiographies more than novels, and this one is written with such freedom and honesty about Roy’s life, particularly her fraught relationship with her impossible mother, that I felt privileged to read it.

How do you keep fit?

I’ve been going to the same stretch class for more than 30 years, and now I’m doing strength training with a trainer once a week as well. My studio is also on the third floor of an old factory with no lift, so I’m up and down those stairs several times a day.

Week-night, low-key restaurant go-to?

The Egghead Diner on Kloof Street has a real New York diner vibe, which I love, and the food is excellent. It’s also a short walk from the Labia Cinema.

What is the one artwork you’ll always love, and why? (You don’t have to own it!)

My choice would be Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sky Above Clouds IV, which is a view of endless clouds seen from a plane, with a band of pink on the far horizon. So serene. I’ve always enjoyed those views myself, and I once made a video called Cloud, featuring a whole sequence of clouds filmed from my seat on a flight that went from daylight to night.

Do you have a hobby? What is it?

A hobby? I’m a professional artist, and thinking about my work, and what I’m working on, then experimenting in new ways to see what happens, consumes all my time.

The one unusual item you can’t live without?

My current sketchbook.

Who was your high school celeb crush?

I went to a girls’ boarding school, and we were all in love with James Dean, star of East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. It was a pretty hopeless love, since by the time his films were released in South Africa and we finally saw him on screen, he had already been killed in a car crash while driving his Porsche 550 Spyder.

Three songs you’d take to a desert island?

A Whiter Shade of Pale, the Van Morrison version; Cold Heart, the Elton John and Dua Lipa remix; and perhaps Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan, who has written and performed so many amazing songs.

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_{Top image: supplied.}