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This Article is my first ive ever written as I am actually a photographer but i would like to earn some steem so that I can buy a video camera to start filming documentaries that I can share on the site, They shall be on how to heal the world so here goes ! at least I think i am a good photographer and I hope the images convey the experience more than the story ☺
So Africa Burn is
an official Burning Man regional event that has been held annually in the Tankwa Karoo in South Africa since 2007.
It is centred on the construction of Amazing elaborate temporary artworks ,built by volunteers in this harsh semi-desert environment, most of which are burnt during and towards the end of the event.
Attendees wear elaborate costumes and create decorated art cars and Mutant Vehicles.
“Africa Burn” Creative Projects was created in 2007 as a Not-For-Profit Company, with the intention that it would serve as a vehicle for the creation and co-ordination of an independent South African Burning Man regional event.
With all events to date held on a private farm called Stonehenge, which is adjacent to the Tankwa Karoo National Park. The farm is very isolated baron and without trees or water,an unforgiving environment with dust storms ,rain showers ,high winds but surrounded by a mesmerising beautiful backdrop that creates a stage for this magical performance that plays out for one week of the year ,
In 2010 the dates of the annual event were moved to earlier in the year, as autumn weather was scorching hot and spring was found to be better suited to the event,
It is currently possible for a public holiday (or in some years two public holidays) to be included within the week during which the event runs from 23-30 April ,
It also means that it is not so close to Burning Man, to allow for more international participants.
This Year there were over 13 000 participants from all over the world that ravelled in the Magic of the event.
The theme for any Africa Burn is intended as a point of possible connection, or inspiration. The theme is not enforced, and art or performance is not necessarily in line with the theme. This years theme was ‘Play’
As a regional Burning Man event, Africa Burn adheres to the ten principles of Burning Man and added another in 2014. Among these guiding principles are the Leave No Trace philosophy, self-expression, self-reliance, and communal effort. The 11th principle, 'Each One Teach One', was added to encourage the sharing of knowledge throughout the community, in order to ensure the uptake of culture matches the growth in numbers. Theme camps are one of the key components of the vibrant regional Burning Man.
Theme camps are established by participants to enhance the experience for all participants and they are situated along the border a semi circle of approximately 800m across facing the open space that the artworks are built and burnt, behind the Theme Camps are the camping arias with roads demarcating quiet and loud aria’s,
Loud music emanates from Colourful elaborate Theme Camps until the early hours of the morning or often all night through till dawn,
There are numerous Mutant Vehicles ,Like the Spirit Train that transports party goers around the desert while blasting out Rocking Techno or Trance beats to make the dessert Thump, There is nothing for sale or to buy and money has no value ,there is no exchange but only a Gifting Philosophy, the idea is to bring something to share with your fellow man ,”Ubuntu “term meaning "humanity". It is often also translated as "humanity towards others", but is often used in a more philosophical sense to mean "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity, In Southern Africa, it has come to be used as a term for a kind of humanist philosophy, ethic, or ideology, also known as Ubuntuism.
"MOOP", or Matter Out Of Place, is the term for litter. Reducing and removing MOOP is part of the Leave No Trace philosophy.Everything that the 13 000 + people bring into the desert as well as all reminisces of burnt artworks are removed to leave the desert exactly as it was found by the end of the festival,as if no one was ever there,
San Clan
By analogy to the Man at Burning Man, the main sculpture at the event is called the San Clan. It is designed to look like a San rock art glyph of a group of people. The intention is to convey the idea of unity and community at the event. Like some sculptures at the event, it is burnt. The burn used to take place on the Saturday night, but is now scheduled for Friday nights in order to accommodate weather delays and provide participants from far afield with more time to return home from the event.
I have been very privileged to have attended every one of the 11 Burning man festivals from the first one in 2007 when there were only around 800 friends together making it happen, It grew from a visit of a few friend to Burning man in the Arizona Desert and feeling that we in South Africa needed our own Burn, The company's founding Members were Richard Bowsher, Paul Jorgensen, Monique Schiess, Mike 't Sas-Rolfes, Liane Visser and Robert Weinek.
Many of them were associated in the film industry and with all the wood that came from the film sets and their friends in the set building circles they had access to scrap wood that they could build the first Artworks with and with that started the first Africa Burn, The location of the burn is the Tankwa Karoo National Park, a Scientific National Park in South Africa.
The park lies about 70 km due west of Sutherland near the border of the Northern Cape and Western Cape, in one of the most arid regions of South Africa, with areas receiving less than 100 mm of average annual precipitation, In the hottest areas of the park, the mean maximum temperature in January is 38.9 °C, and in July the mean minimum temperature ranges from about 5 to 7 °C. The Tankwa Karoo has a allot of mysteries and untold stories , It has been said that some of the last bushman people left the area only 25 years ago. Many of this proofs to be in the San rock art drawings and engravings that can be found in caves and rock formations in the area and some dating back thousands of years, while others only a 100 years.
This is a Magical life changing event and I highly recommend the experience and the wonderful people that one meats and the life long friends you make,
The one thing that I have always been amazed at is the lack of any theft , aggression or unruliness amongst anyone in a group of 13000 people and all they feels is LOVE ,HAPPINESS , ANARCHY ,JOY ,GRATITUDE ! :) XXX
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