Sculpting This Earth

Selected at multiple festivals in South Africa, Sculpting This Earth follows internationally acclaimed artist Strijdom van der Merwe over four consecutive seasons as he travels to remote locations in the southern African interior to make beautiful land art works in a striking range of spectacular natural settings. Featuring 25 fleeting artworks, the film shows the artist at work in the landscape sharing his thoughts as he finds his canvases in nature: valleys, forests, a lagoon, the arid semi-desert… With stunning cinematography and an extraordinary soundtrack including 11 pieces of music composed for it, this documentary is both meditative and contemplative. Shot over more than a year, the new film from award-winning director Victor van Aswegen is the world’s first feature documentary about land art from the southern hemisphere, and a profoundly moving reflection on life and transience.

​“A sublime experience in every sense” - Business Day
​“A complex and nuanced film – an artwork in itself” - The Cape Robyn

Strijdom van der Merwe was born in 1961 and studied art in South Africa at the University of Stellenbosch, in the Netherlands at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Utrecht, in the Czech Republic at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, and in the United Kingdom at the Kent Institute of Art and Design in Canterbury.
He works internationally and has made land art works in South Korea, Turkey, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Namibia, Sweden, Lithuania, Japan, United States, Australia, Germany, Kenya, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Finland, Malta, Norway, Denmark and Switzerland.

A reflection on life and transience

Much more than just another film about art, Sculpting This Earth is meditative and moving. The artist’s works, voice and thoughts, the passage of the seasons, the range of landscapes traversed, the arc traced by the sequence of artworks, and the emotional journey through unforgettable pieces of music all combine to create a space where the viewer can sit with his or her own thoughts and emotions for 95 minutes. It is in the nature of most of the artworks and the way they are presented in the film that they are minimal, suggesting rather than imposing interpretation, leaving the decision as to meaning largely to the viewer. But for those willing and able to bring their thoughts, interpretations and feelings to the works, Sculpting This Earth can speak powerfully about our relation to the natural world, the cycles of nature and of life, the transience of our lives, growth, decline, creation, destruction, beauty, death – and much more besides.