Contemporary Bushman Art: The Work of the !Xun Artist Flai Shipipa

Abstract

Contemporary !Xun artists of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province have produced art that has been described as nostalgic and primitive. Yet the content of these artworks highlights astute political commentary, asserting belonging and immediacy in a political milieu where historically Bushman groups have been ostracized and delegitimized. The !Xun artist Flai Shipipa has created art that is a hybrid spiritual expression with inferences to Bushman cosmology and Christianity. Through this religio-political imagery Shipipa’s canvases are a tangible cultural record of assertions of identity, authenticity, belonging, faith, ambiguity and memory.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to the personnel at the South African San Institute (SASI) in Kimberley, who gave their time to answer questions and provide insight into the Platfontein community. Many thanks also to the !Xun artists for allowing me into their homes and patiently answering my many questions. I am indebted to Nicodemus Sabao, Piet Jonas and Andre Nthoho who gave so much time to helping with translations during interviews. Special thanks go to my colleague Julie Grant, for her insights on this paper and for the use of her 4 × 4 which diligently traversed the dirt roads of Platfontein. I also wish to thank the anonymous reviewers for their beneficial commentary. Parts of this article were written while I was a postgraduate student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was completed in my capacity as senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. While this research received no grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors, the fieldwork was conducted under the auspices of Professor Keyan Tomaselli’s National Research Foundation (NRF) funded Rethinking Indigeneity project at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Notes

1 The terms “San” and “Bushman” have been widely debated as both of them carry a pejorative meaning. Interpretations such as forager, bandit and uncultured savage abound (Barnard 1992; Gordon 1992; Lewis-Williams 1983). Although San is more widely accepted among scholars, I use the term “Bushman” here since it was Shipipa’s preferred term, evident in his use of it in artworks and personal conversation.

2 The ‘!’ is a palatal stop. The sound (similar to that of a cork popping) is “produced by pulling the tip of the tongue sharply away from the front hard palate” (Barnard 1992, xix).

3 Due to their availability, I interviewed mainly !Xun artists. The paper thus focuses on their work.

4 The engravings are said to be of Later Stone Age origin and may have been the work of the /Xam. Their descendants are now possibly farm laborers and/or township dwellers in and around the Karoo (Parkington et al. 2008, 55).

5 The Khoi and San of southern Africa were pastoralists and hunter-gatherers, respectively. The amalgamation “Khoe-San” is used to refer to the groupings under these two names as part of a larger cluster of peoples sharing common kinship and territorial organization, as well as cosmology, ritual and gender relations (see Barnard 1992, 3).

6 The South African San Institute (SASI) is a nonprofit organization formed in 1996 with a focus on community development projects amongst San/Bushmen communities. SASI acts as a gatekeeper liaising between these communities and researchers and organizations, governmental or otherwise, who wish to engage them.

7 Some of the works produced are sold at the Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Tourism Centre, the interpretive center and satellite museum on the servitude owned by the !Xun and Khwe, while other work is housed by SASI; still other paintings have been purchased by galleries across the country and by private buyers internationally.

8 Platfontein has an alarmingly high unemployment rate, with most of the community relying on government grants to survive (Barnabas 2009).

9 I use “San” here as the preferred designation of this group.

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Notes on contributors

Shanade Bianca Barnabas

Shanade Bianca Barnabas is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Johannesburg. Her research focus is at the intersection of indigeneity, heritage, and culture, with a special interest in the Bushmen of southern Africa. E-mail: [email protected]