:: Melkhoutfontein, Stilbaai, Western Cape, South Africa::
:: February & March 2016 - March & April 2017 - February & March 2018 ::
:: 2017 - 7.8m x 6m (approx) - Emulsion on Side Elevation ::
:: Johnny & Susan's House, Melkhoutfontein, Western Cape, South Africa ::
:: Deep gratitude to fellow mural realisers Jason 'Kopa' Joyo, Ariel Taverner & Chris Rimell ::
The original design for this mural was a naturalistic landscape, and this presented several technical challenges for realisation onto a house in a limited period of time, particularly with the view of keeping it in the same recognisable style as the other murals. In the event, The Eland People mural provided the key: in this painting, the elands are delineated by concentric lines which pick out details of the musculature as well as express a dynamic movement in the body. I realised that something similar could mark out the rocks and bushes of the landscape around Blombos cave.
Here, then, we see the sea shore and cliffs around Blombos cave, envisaged as they were when the area was occupied and used for the manufacture of ochre body paint. Rather than depict this manufacture, I have instead opted to express the people as memories, walking through the landscape, or emerging from the distance into view (and into a uniquely human consciousness). The resulting image bears interesting resonance with some of Mati Klarwein's landscape artworks, as well as the visual style of some of my early Ink & Marker works from before 2009...
