San nomads have lived in southern Africa for 44,000 years. The rock paintings that their ancestors bequeathed to us, five to ten thousand years ago, reveal a history of hunters and gatherers. It is with brushstrokes that the San are fighting today so that their forced sedentarization does not come about at the cost of their marginalization and the abandonment of their land.

Travelers crossing the Kalahari Desert discover that the drawings and paintings of the contemporary San demonstrate an inspiration and artistic quality already revealed in the rock paintings of their ancestors, especially those found in the Tsodilo Mountains. In 1990, under the name of Kuru Art Project, the Kuru Foundation for Development created in D’kar a center offering to San artists a workshop and equipment as well as an enhancement of their works, with the help of museums and art galleries around the world. The art project started in 1990 in D'kar was conceived as a way of giving the economic and cultural means to people, otherwise dispossessed of their land and of their identity, to access a new dignity and find a place in today's globalized world. (Rêves de Kalahari, p. 10 / Leïla Baracchini).

On the road taking me to D'kar, I came upon the San pushing a few goats or cows to grazing land, the huts in the villages I drove through were mostly built as they were several hundred years ago, the women were coming out in the morning, their heads loaded with several kilos, walking to the nearest water point to do laundry or fetch water. The men pushed overloaded carts on the trail, or struggled to balance a load stacked on a sled or cart hitched to oxen. A cell phone in almost every hand and a small photovoltaic solar panel hanging from a few thatched or tin roofs reveal that the great digital leap has reached the African rural areas; but the new dignity, and place in a globalized world evoked by Leïla Baracchini require even greater leaps. I had just finished reading her doctoral thesis entitled Quand l'Art vient à D'kar and, as D'kar approached, I had in mind her account of a conversation she had with Coex 'ae1: "In the past, we were free. There was no government. We just hunted animals, ate them and made biltong out of them. We were free. We could go, pick some plants and then just rest. There was no government to ban all of this." (Quand l'Art vient à D'kar, p. 262 / L. Baracchini). Regarding her painting, Coex'ae said: "There are certain types of drawings that I cannot do. I still continue to learn. Trees and birds, these are the parts I know. When I lived in the bush, birds lived around us. That's why it's easy for me to draw them." (Quand l'Art vient à D'kar, p. 258 / L. Baracchini).

Arriving in D’kar, I drop off a young man I picked up earlier as he was walking on the road. He joins some people waiting for a van that is going to take them to Ghanzi, capital of the eponymous district. He only knows a few words of English, an official language in Botswana in addition to Setswana. Our conversation will remain limited, my passenger probably speaking neither English nor Setswana, but rather Naro, the predominant language in the region. He points me in the direction of the center of the Kuru Art Project and I press on. A small showroom is nicely appointed. In addition to the paintings hanging on the walls, small sculptures, jewelry, calendars and pillowcases are for sale. Another room serves as a repository for several dozen paintings. A large workshop occupies the largest room, and there is also a small office where I meet Maude Brown. She has been managing the center for twenty years and is a remarkable woman. A handwritten list of names is pinned to a wall. Artist names appear in the first column and official names in the second. For people speaking an unwritten language, their official name is a phonetic transcription. The consonant xh appears often. It is pronounced by clicking the tongue lightly on the side of the mouth, much like some riders address their horses. The artist's name is more or less close to the official name, it is spelled so that artists can write it to sign their works. Quite an apprenticeship. As for the titles of the paintings, as is often the case with other artists, they describe what is on the canvas. Wouldn't we prefer that they evoke the thoughts and feelings which inspired the work of the artist?

Now that the artistic qualities of San painting are recognized worldwide, now that the exhibitions enhance the image of an underestimated people, and the paintings sold provide financial means to strengthen their economy, the great challenge remains of emancipating contemporary San art from the supervision of the Kuru Foundation for Development. Maude Brown in D'kar and Leïla Baracchini by her work, each do this in their own way.

I continued on the road of my African peregrinations dreaming that one day the historians, professors and artisans of the development of Africa will tell of the San people recovering their dignity and their wealth with brushstrokes.

D'kar, January 20, 2020 / Renaud Tripet

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1) Coex'ae Bob (Ennie), born in 1030.

Sources:

     •     www.kuruart.com

     •     Bochimans / Wikipédia / 2020

     •     Xhosa / Wikipédia / 2020

     •     Quand l'art vient à D'kar / Leïla Baracchini / 2019

     •     Les peinture rupestres san au Matobo National Park / Camille Griffoulières / 2016

     •     Rêves de Kalahari / Leïla Baracchini / 2014

     •     Sur les traces des San / Rob Nixon / 2005

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