RAD 15 – Imvani River

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Signed & Numbered Limited Print Collection on Canvas.

The accompanying site is well known amongst South African writers on San art. The geologist, George William Stow visited the site in the 1800’s and amongst others, Townley Johnson depicted the scene in his book, Major Rock Paintings of Southern Africa in 1980. This writer visited the site for the first time in 2008.

The focus of the panel is the man in red and the large central eland. There appears to be dialogue or some kind of communication occurring between these two images. The man holds 3 short spears or arrows and appears to present these to the eland. They are at close quarters and both appear relaxed in their stance. The remains of more eland and other indeterminate forms are also visible in this panel.

New techniques and the latest equipment have enabled the writer to produce the accompanying documentary painting in more detail than has previously been possible.

The idea that rock paintings can best be interpreted in terms of the rich cosmology and religious beliefs of the people who did them is a strongly held view by contemporary researchers. Rock paintings, apart from their intrinsic beauty, played an integral and crucial role in the life of these early communities.  Through the paintings, communication with the past and the spirit world was possible.  The rock surface was seen as a veil between the real world and the spirit world. It was in these two worlds that one animal dominated the minds of the painters more than another and that was the eland. It was was greatly admired and revered by the San and is the most painted antelope in San rock art in South Africa