Phillip Kakaza
Can art depict a people’s identity? This was a question that I kept toying with after viewing the San Art exhibition now showing at Absa Art Gallery in downtown Johannesburg.
At first the bright, multi-hued surfaces seem almost to resist analysis. One is totally taken in by the surface qualities of colour and form and symbolism takes an instant back seat. But, taking the time to engage with the individual forms, it’s the symbolism in the work that holds me. Visual quirks point to perceptions beyond the literal. A cow, for instance, is not viewed as brown or black and white. Some of the animals represented in the images no longer walk this earth – hinting at memory and nostalgia.
Today, the lifestyles and identity of the San have taken a radical turn. Living in Botswana, they are now distanced from their traditional occupations of harvesting and hunting for food. Having lost their lands, in traditional times, there has been a major government resettlement plan in Botswana for so-called remote area dwellers, in which some areas were put aside for development.
In the face of the slow death of a culture, San art has become a social study of a kind -one that allows you to delve into the history of an entire people. The art work brilliantly reveals aspects of their social and economic lives – animals they’ve hunted and food they’ve harvested.
Although the San people’s lifestyles have been modernised, they still use ancient media for their paintings. Ingredients include earth pigments, charcoal, plant juices, gum, egg, milk, blood and urine.
Male artists prefer painting and engraving images of animals of special symbolic significance. For instance, the depiction of an animal could, curators say, point to its value as a source of food and a religious symbolism, depending on colours used. Women artists’ depictions feature graphic designs resembling birds and the crops they’ve harvested.
The works on exhibition have been selected from a collection that emerged from a unique Botswanan cultural centre. With the establishment of the Kuru Development Trust, which grew from the projects of the Reformed Church in D’kar, a small farm community, some San people have managed to better their lives.
Established in 1992, the centre focuses on the performing arts and the cultural heritage of the people of the Kalahari. The centre also houses a museum, a permanent art collection, a library, an information centre, and holds workshops on storytelling, dancing, hunting and toy- making. Through the long-term support of the centre, San people have managed to make a living from their art. With exhibitions around the world, and private sales, some artists make an average of about R3 000 a month.
San art has become the living voice of countless generations, telling of their struggles, and bridging the time-gap, bringing these people’s views and expressions into the modern world.