:: Melkhoutfontein, Stilbaai, Western Cape, South Africa::
:: February & March 2016 - March & April 2017 - February & March 2018 ::
:: 2017 - 7.2m x 5.5m (approx) - Emulsion on Side Elevation ::
:: Miena & Family's House, Melkhoutfontein, Western Cape, South Africa ::
:: Deep gratitude to fellow mural realisers Jason 'Kopa' Joyo & Chris Rimell ::
:: as well as the Dutch group of Frank, Evert, Romy & Nikki ::
Like The Eland People, this mural underwent considerable transformations from the design to final realisation. In November 2016, a group of Dutch visitors painted the background and added some interesting wavy glyphs to part of the image, which I decided to extend all the way along the green part of the background. A stronger narrative was also drawn out the fairly impressionistic form of the design. In addition, Miena's husband very sadly passed away a few weeks before we arrived to paint the house: this was particularly saddening as he had been looking forward to sitting and watching us develop the mural. In life, he had been a fisherman, and so we added fishing boats to the sea in his memory.
Here, then, we see a spreading out of humanity from the first cultural expressions at Blombos, with images that recall life at Diepkloof rock shelter, hunter gatherer life and eland hunting, dancing and music, bushman rockart, the Khoekhoen and Strandloper culture, and, along the top, Upper Palaeolithic cave art (the figure with the claviform hat), the invetion of ceramics and agriculture and the coming of Christianity, a culturally important memory for the people of Melkhoutfontein. In memory of Miena's husband, we also see three fishing boats: an early coracle, a sailing boat, and at right a modern fishing boat.
