The Kuru Art Project: Modern Art by the Khoisan

Since 1990 the artists from the Kuru Art Project have produced contemporary art that is original and remarkable in character. The Kuru Development Trust was established in the 1980's to create greater autonomy, capacity and social advancement for the San* of the Ghanzi district of Botswana. The objective of the Kuru Art Project has been to facilitate the provision of technical advice, materials and studio space to artists from the Ghanzi community. In terms of content, techniques and style these have been left to the artists to develop on their own. The Kuru Art Project artists paint on canvas, and print in a variety of media including lithography, colour reduction lino prints and monoprints. Occasionally the men also work on wooden sculptures.

In terms of subject matter, much of what the artists choose to depict refers to the past. It is as if by capturing the stories and memories of how things were they will be able as a community to hold onto these things. The content of the work thus imparts both political and social content. The need to preserve their culture, traditions, stories and myths in visual form has played an important role in increasing self-awareness and pride within their community. This has been further enhanced by the extensive international recognition that the project has received over a relatively short period of time. In a society in which the hunter-gatherer, healer, shaman, dancer and artist are often united in one person, visual art becomes a powerful tool for expressing what one has to say about one's present circumstances. Looked at from this perspective the links with their rock art heritage are clear to see.
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Artist Name Jan Tcega John
TITLE: Ladies plant
MEDIUM: Reduction linocut
SIZE 250 x 200 mm
EDITION SIZE 17

Artist: Kg'akg'am Tshabu
TITLE: Let our wildlife multiply
MEDIUM: Reduction linocut
SIZE: 300 x 220 mm
EDITION SIZE: 15

Artist: Gamnqoa Kukama
TITLE: Two Giraffes
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas
SIZE: 680 x 495 mm

Artist: Xaga Tcuixgao
TITLE: Kudus in the Kalahari
MEDIUM: Reduction linocut
SIZE: 240 x 300 mm
EDITION SIZE: 21

Artist Name Cgoma Simon
TITLE: The took Saartjie Baardman on a boat to Europe
MEDIUM: Linocut
SIZE 400 340 mm
EDITION SIZE 16

Artist Name Jan Tcega John
TITLE: Desert Giraffes
MEDIUM: Reduction linocut
SIZE 335 x 445 mm
EDITION SIZE 20
Images Sourced From:
http://www.kuruart.com/index.php

My Thoughts:
The Bushmen, San or Khoisan were the original inhabitants of Southern Africa. They were here before the Europeans landed on the shores and before black tribes from the North moved to the Southern regions. There were even hunting licences issued to sporting hunters to hunt the San people.They were slowly hunted and pushed off their land and forced into the central Kalahari, a dry arid dessert area where they survived as hunter gatherers, tough hardy people.
Today there are estimated to be:
South Africa: 10,000
Botswana: 55,000
Namibia: 27,000
Zimbabwe: 1,200
Angola: <5,000
Many of San people now live in and around towns and villages, working as farm labour. There however still some that have chosen to remain in the central Kalahari where they still survive as traditional hunter gatherers, a hard life, but one that they view as better than living as marginalized people.
The San have always had a rich culture of painting, using painting as a way of story telling and relaying their history and folklore. Traditionally they would have drawn on rock and cave walls, with their art dotting many sites in the Southern African landscape.
Traditionally they would have used plant oil mixed with ochre or plant pigments giving them limited colours, but today through art projects such as Kuru, they are given the every colour imaginable and it's interesting to see their approach to the use of colour. The animal and human figures are drawn in much the same way as they always have, but the use of colour somehow makes them appear like modern naive art. Wonderfully bright and cheerful in contrast to their traditional dessert surroundings. Each work tells a story of the individuals life, background and folklore.

On a more personal note: My folks used to work for a safari company that traveled to the most arid regions of the central Kalahari, where they would live with various San tribes for a couple of weeks at a time, this was in the early 80's. At that stage they would still come across tribes or family groups that had only a verbal history of European people, but had never seen them for themselves.
On my parents return from such trips I would listen to the stories relayed to my folks of stories told round the camp fires. Stories of how people came into being, a creation story.
Stories and descriptions of white settlers in ox wagons attempting to cross the great Kalahari dessert.
Stories of strange animals, yet to be discovered by scientists.
I was captivated and enthralled.
On one such trip, my mom returned with drawings that some of the San did for her as well as a prized doll, (made of leather strips wrapped around a dense core) that was given to her to give to me, I still have her.

Some information on the San people:
www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_bushmen.html