Visual art: 'The San in Botswana Today' exhibition

OGOPOLENG KGOMOETHATA
Correspondent | Friday November 23, 2007 00:00

Ah, the Kuru Organisation finally presented the most successful and truly contemporary exhibition: This Is Us! The San in Botswana Today, which gave enthusiasts the answer to this lingering question. It opened at the National Museum Art Gallery in Gaborone on November 7.

The exhibition is a cultural and informative presentation by various San groups that introduced the cutting edge practice which includes installations and performance art, on an equal footing with other more traditional practice. In many respects, the exhibition, reflects the transition from their tradition and cultural life through different ages to the world of today. The general overview of the exhibition was social realism, a central theme covering diversified subjects such as urban and rural citizen. However, the term social realism, in this context, is best defined by The Concise Oxford dictionary of Art as 'A broad term for painting (or literature other art) that comments on contemporary social, political comments or economic conditions, usually from a left-wing view point in a realistic manner. However, the critical point that stood out in this exhibition is that social awareness was more evident in documentary photography works displayed by Pieter Brown, Paul Weinberg, Juigen Schandeberg, R. Pakkleppa, Annari van der Merwe, Caroline Hitch and Margarethe Hoegh, all of them of Caucasian origin. As a point of departure photographer Schanderberg with his powerful black and white pictures took us a little back to the original lifestyle of the San. He successfully has shown the spiritual side of Kalahari where the San danced and prayed. Schanderberg explored with the medium in a highly conscious way tapping more into the San spiritual side. 'For health and for peace we prayed to God through our dances,' said one of the Naro people within the San community in English writing next to a photograph. 

When I got to the end of the narrative sequence I could see the earliest kind of lifestyle of the San, and the transformation and their current state of affairs.

The photographers exposed this diverse cultural wealth and tradition for us and our future generations to know and learn how other tribes live. This is evident in this exhibition as I managed to see a pamphlet from one of the Kuru Organisation Trusts that stated that, now the Bible is translated into one of San languages which is Naro language spoken in western Botswana, around Ghanzi, and also in the eastern Namibia. This means the San, one of the view tribes that are still performing the African cultural and traditional rituals are now in a way loosing these practices and falling in Christianity. It is in these rituals that boys and girls are taught their duties and responsibilities in the society. They are empowered in so many ways, from cultural to social issues, you name them, such as ancestors, marriage etc as they are eligible to start their own families and be responsible men and women in the house and the society. The love and unity with God was done through these rituals.

However, the exhibition consisted of other vast and various artworks including wood sculptures, black ink prints and paintings on canvas done by the San artists themselves who mostly displayed inside the Main gallery just opposite the Octagon gallery.

Admittedly, at the time, it felt strange by not seeing the works of the San artists until I moved to the Main gallery where their work is displayed. Immediately, in the most conscious mind, one could see the subject of identity in depth with complexities of culture and tradition influenced by the rock paintings. Technical expertise itself is adequate hence produced an emotional impact we get from the rock paintings.

Concerning sculpture, the artists wanted to find a way to express their rock heritage in a three-dimensional way. That inspired this collection of sculptures where the linear qualities and movements are reminiscent of the rock art found in Southern Africa. It is also noteworthy to see their works depicting their contemporary life, which is already influenced by what is termed as 'civilization' at the expense of cultural extinctions or vanishing cultures. I got engaged by this powerful print that depicted the unhappy migration of the Basarwa from CKGR showing the truck loaded with goats with wild and furious snake and bird on the violent sky seeming to protest against the idea of moving out. It also reminded me of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

As if these was not enough the San gave a performance art. Performance art is about the movement, implying the participation of body in some action and often the viewer become part of the performance by his reaction. They did their traditional dance and performed their tactics of tracking and animal hunting which left the audience in much delight. The audience was totally engaged as part of the whole art piece in the tracking and hunting of animal, which was represented by a small animal drawing trying to kill it. We were taught how to use the bow and arrow, what position to aim at on the animal, which is the heart.

We used a small animal drawing with position of the heart for demonstration and not even a single one from the audience managed to aim at the heart except me. I am not just blowing my horn here because it took an aim from me to aim at the heart of that animal which was not a walk in the park.

We ought, of course, to really acknowledge that distinction between this cultural and informative exhibition with the ones that past. The rigor of their delivery, starting from curators and artists themselves was impressive and unique for the time and space.