Home    Galleries    Projects    Commissions    Prints    About    Contact    Back Door

negev rock art bradford canvas banners flying fox

:: exploring 4000 year old petroglyphs in Israel's Negev Desert ::

                            

:: view other images from this project ::

"THE MAGIC OF ARROWS AND BLOOD"
2007 : 42cm x 29 cm : Inks & markers on card

Another strongly desert-themed piece, this one. The original petroglyph appeared to depict a magical ritual: it's possible that the creation of the original petroglyph might have been the magic in itself rather than representing an event that actually happened. In any case, I found it interesting that two aspects of killing power were shown: the flying arrow, and the biting dogs. I felt that the magic might have been an intent to capture their killing power so as to increase the fertility of the tribe: by killing more ibexes, there would be greater success and happier life for the people of the Negev. There's something ancient about such a thought, and although the rock art is only 4000 years old, it speaks of something much older, closer to the Palaeolithic Great Hunt rather than the Neolithic Middle East.


 

Copyright (c) 2002-2008 Bruce Rimell : All images, artwork, writings, texts and other information on this site
are copyrighted to Bruce Rimell and may not be reproduced in any form unless stated otherwise.