At this stage, the name Hergill Coghlan is not even a voice in the dark, but a name that should be kept in mind for the next few years as a young up-and-coming artist who will soon exhibit his work at a famous art gallery in Kimberley.
At first sight Coghlan (27) looks like any ordinary young man, but when you look at his artwork and start talking to him, you realize the depth and pain behind his art. He is the eldest son of Geraldine Van Wyk, a former top cop at Postmasburg SAPS who lost her battle against breast cancer in 2016.
He says he started drawing at the age of seven years by watching animated characters on TV and constantly saw pictures in his head that he drew on paper. At school, he was continuously drawing pictures while the teachers were teaching.
Today, years later, his simple pencil sketches made way for colourful paintings with his late mother as his greatest inspiration. “With my artwork make my mother proud,” he says with tearful eyes.
Coghlan’s art stems out of the pain of his mother’s cancer and later death and how it has radically changed his life.
Water is an element that emerges throughout most of his work. He says water is a remarkable regularity across human cultures. “Water has been used to communicate the sacred value of life; the spiritual dimension of purification, protection and healing; and the profound meaning of suffering and redemption in human life”.
When he paints, it is as if his mother is around him and he can feel her presence. His message to young people who have lost a parent is to find something to express their hurt in a creative way to find healing.
Coghlan has big plans and an art gallery is on his wish list. He is currently studying part-time towards his degree to become a teacher in four years. He is in a development program where young people are developed to become qualified teachers.
Later this year he will be part of an art exhibition for young emerging artists in the Northern Cape.
