Rock art
Botswana is home to one of the world's most precious rock art sites. In the north-west of the country, in the Kalahari Desert, more than 4,500 cave paintings tell the story of a hundred millennia of history. During this long period, populations found refuge among the quartzite formations. The Tsodilo site is known as the Louvre of the Desert for a reason. It preserves in stone the traces of the evolution of peoples. Paintings, engravings and sculptures from the past century are juxtaposed with works estimated to be twenty thousand years old. The rock speaks to us of human activity, but also of the evolving ties that bind people to their environment. Listed as a Unesco World Heritage site since 2001, Tsodilo is still regarded by the local population as a sacred place, inhabited by ancestral spirits. History continues to be written on these majestic walls.
Alongside human figures, we note a preference for large game: giraffe, antelope, zebra, rhinoceros. Covering a vast period, these drawings feature a variety of styles: mostly schematized line drawings, rarely polychrome and sometimes complemented by abstract motifs.
The Savute caves, east of the Okavango, reveal a similar style, with giraffes associated with linear motifs. Exchanges between peoples probably took place, perhaps on the occasion of rites integrating the representations traced on the walls.
Botswana's rock art has been known to the international community since the mid-19th century. Today, it can also be admired in museums. On the Kalahari border, magnificent rock art collections can be seen at the McGregor Museum in Kimberley and the Vryburg Museum.
The San people
On the whole, Botswana's cave art is linked to San religious practices. However, Bantu-speaking farmers seem to have turned to these artists to solve their problems, particularly agricultural ones such as drought. Cave paintings have probably continued to be used for ritual purposes for many generations.
Nevertheless, most of the paintings were left by the San, otherwise known as Bushmen, Bushmen or "bushmen" to Dutch settlers. These hunter-gatherers were among the first inhabitants of southern Africa. Arriving 45,000 years ago, these nomads migrated to the Kalahari Desert. Now sedentary, they live in a hostile land and are subject to an equally inhospitable government. Yet they have left precious traces of the birth of humanity, in caves or in the open air. Painted or engraved, these representations have been preserved precisely because they are found in places that are difficult to access. Their paintings are invaluable for their artistic quality. They used three engraving techniques: staking, incising and scraping. Some researchers claim that these works had the power to put shamans into a trance-like state during rituals. The animal representations are not simply expressions of the need to feed, but rather symbols. The antelope would be linked to the puberty of young girls, and the moose to the spirits. On other walls, paintings would represent their visions, provoked by ritual dances. This explains the presence of hybrid creatures, which would appear to be nothing other than humans in the process of transformation.
Certain motifs, such as whales and penguins, suggest contact with other peoples.
The San also painted realistic everyday scenes, such as battles on horseback against settlers.
So it's safe to say that Botswana's first artists were the San. What's more, these masters of cave painting have always been skilled craftsmen, combining wood, leather and ostrich eggshells in their creations. Today, Bushmen painters have developed a distinctive artistic style. The colorful compositions, filled with human and animal figures, continue to evoke their strong relationship with nature. A gallery in the village of D'Kar, the Kuru Art Project located some 30 km from Ghanzi, exhibits original contemporary works by this venerable people.
An active scene
The Thapong Visual Arts Centre is a member-driven organization based in Gaborone. Established in 1998, the center is dedicated to promoting excellence in the visual arts. All talents, even the avant-garde, find their place in this space. Outward-looking, the center encourages international exchanges. In addition to its exhibition program, the Thapong Art Center invites international artists in residence. These artists complement their stay with workshops open to the public and an exhibition in collaboration with local artists.
The National Museum of Botswana is located in the center of Gaborone. Since 1967, this multi-disciplinary facility has housed the National Art Gallery, the National Library, the Octagonal Gallery and the Botanical Garden, which houses sculptures. Realistic paintings depicting everyday scenes can be seen alongside innovative productions. The museum is unique in that it combines natural and cultural heritage. The museum also contributes to the preservation of the Tsodilo site. It has also launched remarkable initiatives to reach rural populations, whose remoteness and dispersal prevent them from gaining access to culture. So it's the museum that reaches out to its public, both physically and through a magazine. The Zebra's Voice is widely distributed to organizations, schools and the general public. The museum appeals to private funds through the humorously named "Adopt a Monument" initiative. The aim is to encourage companies and wealthy individuals to participate in the maintenance and preservation of Botswana's heritage.
Other towns have their own arts promotion centers. The Kgosi Sechele I Museum, founded in 1902, not only celebrates the famous David Livingstone. Paintings and photographs of the Molepolole region and its inhabitants are also on display in this refurbished police station. The Phuthadikobo Museum in Mochudi exhibits a panorama of local crafts and a collection of photographs of Bakgatla life by Isasac Schapera, Duggan Cronin and Sandy Grant. For an insight into the culture of the Okavango region, the Nhabe Museum in Maun houses a collection of paintings, handicrafts and photographs in a former British army outpost.
Street art
Compared to the Western world, street art is slowly emerging in Botswana. Urban frescoes and graffiti are still finding it hard to gain public acceptance. In fact, it is forbidden to paint on private property. But public opinion is evolving at its own pace. People are surprising themselves by reconciling with their neighborhoods through street art. Artists of all origins are to be commended for travelling the continent and gradually spreading the trend in Botswana. For example, the famous graffiti artist Jace, born in Le Havre but based in Reunion Island, has toured the country with his spray-paint cans and his pudgy yellow alter ego, Gouzou. In Gaborone, Gouzou rides a wheeled elephant on one side of a door, while on the other he clings to the hindquarters of a giraffe. Far from seeking realism, Jace paints Gouzou in situations that make passers-by and local residents smile.
Projects such as Arts for Change organize creative workshops for young people under the aegis of renowned guests such as Kid Kréol & Boogie, also from Réunion Island. These programs aim to encourage the younger generation to put their creativity to good use by embellishing their living spaces. In recent years, frescoes have been timidly appearing on neighborhood walls. These pioneers are more concentrated in Gaborone. Urban artists Archie Pielsticker and Laone Motseta have made it a way of life. In their store near the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) office, they create stickers inspired by the tags and graffiti that adorn their premises. Also tattoo artists, they receive numerous orders to embellish the walls of the capital and surrounding areas. This energetic duo know that they need to gain credibility if they are to be recognized as artists. Their guiding principle? The main ambition of street art is to do good. It's not about promoting violence but, on the contrary, helping people to feel happy in their own city.
Philippe Tallis, Botswana artist
Philippe Tallis was born in 1960 in Botswana to a French mother and an English father. From an early age, he was fascinated by animals, which were to become the main theme of his work. Trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he became a graphic designer, but chose to devote himself to painting and sculpture. The country of his childhood marks all his work. We find the dazzling movement of the animal world, imperative to survival, or the red earth of Botswana. Her dynamic brushstrokes reproduce ostriches, elephants, giraffes, pelicans and elephants on the alert. His subject matter naturally turns to dance, leading him to stage performances in which he paints against a backdrop of ballets choreographed by Maurice Béjart or Carolyn Carlson.
His work, awarded the Gandhi Foundation's Peace Trophy, is exhibited worldwide.
