:: Melkhoutfontein, Stilbaai, Western Cape, South Africa::
:: February & March 2016 - March & April 2017 - February & March 2018 ::
:: 2018 - 4.5m x 3.2m (approx) - Emulsion on Side Elevation ::
:: Sanna & Family's House, Melkhoutfontein, Western Cape, South Africa ::
:: Deep gratitude to fellow mural realisers Jason 'Kopa' Joyo, Adrian Solomon & Chris Rimell ::
The final large mural painted in this year's visit, and the first painted in Harmonie Park, an area to the north of the main town of Melkhoutfontein, where there is a lot of informal accomodation and considerable poverty, even when compared to the rest of the community. The arrival of this mural into Harmonie Park brings the PaintUp project into this neighbourhood this year and next year, and represents an extra message of hope. When Sanna was told that her house would be the first in the area to have a mural, she called all her neightbours over to tell them, such was her pride and happiness at the news!
This mural imagines the rituals of making ochre for body paint in the cave at Blombos, some 15 miles from Melkhoutfontein. The archaeology of Blombos dates back to over 75,000 years ago, and is important in understanding the origins of human culture. One interpretation of the archaeology is that earl humans made red body paint from the ochre for use in dance rituals. Further details are given in the design for this mural.
