Are We There Yet?

Original mixed media on canvas

Available for purchase.

Childhood road trips seemed to contain far more road than any reasonable journey required.

From the back seat came the inevitable question: Are we there yet? Usually repeated until an adult threatened never to take us anywhere again. But boredom was easily forgotten. A windpump, a troop of baboons, sheep in the road or the sudden appearance of something wild beside it—and we were all pressed against the windows, temporarily delighted by where we were.

The Karoo still has that effect on me. Its long roads invite the eye towards the horizon, but the real pleasure lies in what appears along the way: a flash of colour in the veld, a lonely farmhouse, a mountain turning pink in the late afternoon—or three ostriches striding across your path as though the road belongs to them.

Perhaps they are on a journey of their own. Perhaps they, too, are wondering if they are there yet. Although they look considerably more purposeful about it than we ever did.

Are We There Yet? is about road trips through the wild we call home, and the way a familiar landscape can still catch us by surprise. We may set out with a destination in mind, but there is nearly always something unexpected waiting around the next bend—enough to make us forget, at least for a little while, how much further there is to go.