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| Cave paintings from the Drakensburg mountains |
Inspired by Saki Mafundikwa's attempt to revive an authentic African visual identity, I decided to explore the possibilities of a Khoi-San visual language. The Bushman cave paintings are one of humankind's first acts of creation and they have been my biggest source of inspiration in this endeavor.
What fascinates me the most about the bushman Rock art are the subtleties of Bushman religion and mythology that's infused in these paintings. Earlier derided as works of a community "once despised and considered by many Westerners to be on the lowest rungs of human evolution" bushman rock art has been found to have been more complex and advanced than the Upper Palaeolithic art found in French and Spanish caves. Contrary to earlier notions, Bushman cave painting are more than mere decoration and hunting scenes, recent rock art research has found them to have a deeper and a more spiritual role to play in bushman culture. The book 'Images of Power-David Lewis Williams and Thomas Dowson' had been my primary source of information in this regard taking me step by step through the many layers underlying in the works of ancient bushman.
Most of the ancient cave paintings are believed to have been painted by the shamans of the communities, illustrating their experiences during their trance dance. The cave walls were not just seen as blank canvases but as a portal into the spiritual realm. It is seen as a window into a world that exists behind the face of the rock. I was amazed to see the resemblances modern day fantasy has to ancient ideas as reflected in these cave paintings. How different was it from the magical world behind 'Platform 9 3/4' from the Harry Potter mythology?
Bushman mythology is full of such symbols and metaphors that we find reappearing in our modern day fantasy fiction. Below is a mind-map charting out the various features of bushman cave paintings.
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| Mindmap about bushman rock art |
The bushman often refer to their trance experiences as 'dying', just like how in western colloquial terms it is referred to as a 'trip'. The shamans use several metaphors to describe their trance experiences, one of them being 'drowning'. The shamans relate their trance to the feeling of being underwater; blurry vision, difficulty to breathe, weightlessness etc. Some refer to it as flying, very similar to how we often call it being 'high'. Bushman paintings are also full of animal metaphors and therianthropes, which almost blurs the gap between man and animals. Bushman believe a shaman in trance can embody and harness another animal's potency. To them the Eland is the most potent animal, often referred to as the Rain Animal. Many shamans describe possessing animal features during the trance, which can be understood through the several Therianthropic (humans with animal features) characters in the paintings.
Next post: Top 5 most significant bushman animals.
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| Therianthropes |
Bradshaw foundation website: http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/rari/
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