Lara van Huyssteen | Interview
Pictured: Artist Lara van Huyssteen
“Sunlight can be as damning as the darkness between the stars.”
Lara van Huyssteen is a South African writer, theatre maker and performer working between London and Cape Town. Her practice moves across writing, performance, scenography and collaboration, creating works that bring the past and present into confrontation while leaving space for joy, hope and transformation. Known for her solo performance That Boy Has No Shoes and her work with the durational performance company Et al., Lara’s practice is shaped by storytelling, theatrical atmosphere and the emotional force of lived history.
In this interview, Lara discusses Gravedigger, her first digital artwork and a dark storybook-format work that began as part of a durational performance. Set within a grotesque purgatory landscape, the work draws from fairy tales, romantic fantasy, celestial imagery, heaven, hell, Medusa, Cleopatra, girlhood and feminine rage. Through visceral language and symbolic illustration, Gravedigger becomes a story about consequence, justice, transformation and the ancient human need to share stories.
Gravedigger, Cover
Digital artwork and storybook-format work by Lara van Huyssteen
How would you describe your artistic practice at this point in your journey?
In my practice I like to create work, be it performance or writing, that can offer joy and hope to people. Oftentimes, my work starts with writing in response to a theme or concept and exploring how my writing can be presented as an experience. Gravedigger is my first digital artwork, and I am excited to share it with the world.
Gravedigger
ABUNDANCE
Durational performance by Et al.
What feels most central to your work right now?
My work varies depending on who I’m working with. As part of my theatre company Et al., we explore themes of dark comedy, spectacle vs mundane, community vs control and duration. In my solo work, I use writing and scenography to bring the past and present into a confrontation. I employ juxtaposition to heighten the gut punch of a theme but aim to leave the audience with a lingering feeling of hope.
What themes, ideas, or questions are you currently exploring through your work?
In Gravedigger, I wanted to explore what a journey in purgatory looks and feels like. My aim was to create an immersive experience through visceral language and imagery so the reader could indulge in a grotesque landscape. The story acts as a warning against life-changing consequences caused by stupid mistakes and how justice will always be served, in this life or the next.
Can you tell us about the artworks you are presenting with The Alchemical Art, and what ideas connect them?
Gravedigger was initially written to be performed in LET ME IN by Et al., a durational performance presented at Voidspace Live 2026 in London. My prompt was to write a story about a man who died in a stupid way and got stuck in purgatory. Over the past year, I read a ton of romantic fantasy and felt inspired by the contrast between the epic scope of the stories and the intricate details in the language which focuses the reader’s attention on an image, moment or feeling. This story poured out of me in two days and the process felt like phantom hands were moving mine on the keyboard as ideas locked into place. As I stepped back from my computer and took in what I had written, a small part of me wonders if this was a subconscious response to the rage I felt when the Epstein files were released. After I wrote it, I illustrated the story with celestial images and symbols related to heaven, hell, ancient fairy tales, Medusa, Cleopatra and girlhood. I felt these images best reflected the underlying rage in the writing.
That Boy Has No Shoes
Solo performance by Lara van Huyssteen
How does your process usually begin, and how does a work tend to develop?
When I make a work, I try to remain receptive to patterns or themes that emerge in the process. With Gravedigger, I wrote the story in chronological order and weaved previously used phrases and imagery back into the story. The opening line “Sunlight can be as damning as the darkness between the stars” informed the message and trajectory of the narrative. I feel that the opening line of a book, film or any story should tell you what its overarching theme is, and I used that sentence as my signpost while I was writing. Darkness, sunlight and stars became important images and make regular appearances throughout the work.
What has been shaping this body of work, or your practice more broadly, at this moment?
For this work, I felt inspired by the narrative structure of children’s fairy tales and the dark themes in the works of Sarah J. Maas and Anne Bishop. Bishop’s Black Jewels series is a disturbing reading experience because it starkly presents the innocence of childhood alongside the sick nature of humankind. Despite the dark themes of Gravedigger, I wanted justice to prevail and offer a happily ever after, as you would find in a fairy tale. Overall, the story has a theme of transformation and renewal which is underpinned with the illustrations.
Continuum
Durational performance by Et al.
Are there particular materials, gestures, symbols, places, or visual languages that feel important in your work?
Yes, in heaven I tried to use language that mirrors crystallisation, in hell I used language related to water and in purgatory, I played with words and phrases related to cold landscapes. I also felt inspired by the image of Eve being tricked by the snake and Cleopatra’s body found with snakes. However, I wanted to shift the snake to being an ally or friend rather than a cunning trickster. The image of an eye feels important too, because there is an ancient thing constantly watching the gravedigger during his travels in purgatory. For illustration I used female eyes with long lashes that you could easily find in a beauty editorial to reinforce the presence of an unseen girl in the story.
What drew you to present your work with The Alchemical Art?
I saw Solstice was centred around the themes of The Star, hope and renewal. It felt serendipitous that I had only recently written and made Gravedigger into a storybook format. I submitted the work on the off chance that the curators would be intrigued by how fitting Gravedigger is with the exhibition’s themes and I was very excited when the work was selected.
What does visibility, exhibition, or being featured mean to you at this stage of your practice?
As an emerging artist, this is very exciting! This is my first time presenting work in an art exhibition and I hope that this opens some doors for me to do so again in future. As a performer, I would like to do some installation work or durational performance as part of an exhibition one day, so we’ll see.
What are you currently curious about, experimenting with, or moving toward in your work?
I am currently interested in the rising popularity of romantic fantasy. I think it’s really cool how women are appropriating myths, ancient scripture and a male-dominated literary genre to create and present stories celebrating female strength and sexuality. I would like to explore these themes in live performance soon.
What advice do you have for other artists?
If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a f**k no. Follow the creative threads of what you are most excited about and make the work to bring yourself joy. Just do you. the simplest image can carry the most difficult truth.
That Boy Has No Shoes
Solo performance by Lara van Huyssteen
“I hope Gravedigger can make you excited about the power of storytelling. It is one of humankind’s most ancient crafts and is super important to community and connection. What story do you want to share with the world?
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Artist Bio:
Lara van Huyssteen is a South African writer, theatre maker and performer in London, UK and Cape Town, ZA. Her work in theatre and performance has been recognised by international critics, the UK’s OffFest Awards and multiple media outlets, including Woman&Home ZA. She creates work as a solo artist and as a collaborator with her company, Et al. Her solo performance That Boy Has No Shoes, a personal perspective on the history of Apartheid, premiered in London as part of Camden Fringe 2024 and was selected for Voila! Theatre Festival 2024. The show was nominated in the UK at Everything Theatre’s Etties Awards and at the OffFest Awards for its ‘immersive’ staging and ‘powerful’ impact. In March 2025, the show premiered in Lara’s home country at Cape Town’s Homecoming Centre (District Six Museum) in honour of South Africa’s Human Rights Day. Lara is also a co-founder and company member of Et al., a theatre company in London that specialises in durational performance. Their work interrogates themes of labour-as-performance, nostalgia, accumulation, community and cont