This morning we had yet another early morning lift off with a departure of 8:30 heading straight for the sand rock paintings. Now when think of someone telling me about a painting, I immediately think wet paint like medium on a brush applied to the surface of a sand rock.
This is absolutely not the case at all. In fact, the drawings were not only not paint, but they were not all recognizable shapes either. The designs could be of animal, human, or geometric form and were pounded into the surface of the rock with other stones creating what appeared to be one solid line.
The designs were beautiful and so many of them as we later found out were created in there place because of the important symbolism the shape had with the sun. It's a shame however, you can hear the rocks hollow underside which affects the sustainability of them to the ground as well as the blatant weathering signs that are evident directly on the surface of the carvings.
This is an example of what the sand rock paintings looked like. The image here depicts what a traditional home looks like. I believe our guide mentioned that the painting you see above was dated somewhere in the late nineteenth century. There were tons of these images plastered on the rock surfaces ranging in variety of shape and style. The only thing that these images seemed to have in common was the way in which they were done. What I mean by that is simply the way the artist pounded the design into the surface, the depth the rock was cut, the simplicity of design, and the angle with which the design was carved.
The original drawings on the rocks were somewhere between five and fifteen hundred years old which was really neat to see because we stood over drawing that have been seen for hundreds and hundreds of years. I would say that the average person could see these images, but they are not all easily recognized. It definitely takes a trained eye to see what these images were.
Our next site was relatively similar in it's style, but a majority of the Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centers designs were very rustic and animal specific. It was pretty neat to see and much better shared through images from my camera instead of my iPad. Although in general another cool experience that I was excited to be a part of.
This afternoon we visited the William Humphry's Art Gallery which is a host for some truly great works. We started off in the court yard for a delicious lunch and then had a chance to walk around and view some of the exhibits in the museum. I had a delicious mince and cheese sandwich and a salad the size of a pack of gum. Nothing like still being hungry even after you eat.
When we finished up lunch we went straight to the apartheid art section and began our tour.
These pictures below were kind of special, we got a sneak peek into the storage facilities within the museum where we saw hundreds of works stored for future displays. That's something worth seeing sometime.
Art work is designed to be powerful to your emotions and for me really does a number on me when I am impacted on a personal level. Many of the works here at this particular museum speak of prejudice and apartheid issues which are strong in such a collected space. This trip as very much opened my eyes to cultural things to beware of in my own approach to life. Not only as an individual who meets and interacts with others, but as an educator who has the unique privilege of using art as a vehicle to teach others about cultural issues.
Here in South Africa and in many parts of the country, art isn't even considered as a topic of education. Teachers aren't educated to teach it and schools as we've learned from all our school visits don't even have the capacity to host it. Not only financially, but they just don't see a need for it. This is kind of interesting to me because art is sold on every street corner in every part of the country and is used as a main means of revenue for families. Interesting how with a country so rich in it's artistic abilities that they don't encourage their people to understand fully the true potential their work can have.
So on a brief side note, our docent had the cutes hair ever and it totally made me want to chop my hair off. I am relatively sure that if I did this Don would start crying and I would be in the dog house. What do you think?
By the way, I did ask her if I could take her picture :)
Newest addition to the day ... Got a flat tire on the way home. I totally thought Robbie was driving was to quickly on this bumpy road, but nooooo I am never correct. Ass.
- With all my thanks :)
Location:Kimberly, South Africa
