'Log people' will rise from ashes, Bay artist promises

Kwakanya Ndleleni

THE bush fires on Buffelsfontein Road this week have left a Nelson Mandela Bay artist heartbroken after her "log people" caught fire.

The artworks, which have been on the side of Buffelsfontein Road since 2006 when artist Bretten- Anne Moolman painted a polka- dot bikini on a log, were damaged by bush fires spreading through Walmer since the weekend.

Moolman said she was very sad her prized "log people" were gone, but she promised to revamp them as soon as she could.

"I did them because I wanted to do something for my city and these were on a main road.

"It was actually a friend of mine, Brenda Davis, who first realised the log resembled a female figure, and so we decided to play around with it. Now they are gone," the artist, 45, said.

The "male" log has been left without a leg and the "female" without a head and most of her upper body.

The "log people" started when Moolman painted a bikini on one log, named Miss Vavavoom, and years later admirers decided to add a partner, a "male" with South African flag pants. "His name may have been Mr South Africa, but we didn't officially name him," she said.

Alongside him was a boy and a dog wearing second-hand high heels, "because every little boy deserves a best friend; sadly the young boy and his best friend got stolen".

Yesterday, the artist was repainting the bikini top lower on the "female" log and said she still had more work to do before they were back to their former glory.