ANCIENT MEMORIES, SYMBOLS AND MARKINGS

Coral Fourie

It is interesting to see how ancient symbols have found their way into contemporary art. In a way the artist is linking with the past .....with the lives of previous generations. It's a feeling I am unable to describe....this mysterious connection with ancient tribes.



All in time's space. Gesso and oil on canvas by Coral Fourie

In this post I've featured the work of artists from Africa.

Coral Fourie hales from the Free State, South Africa. Her art and her work with the San Bushmen "aim at keeping the flame of a threatened people alive."

I discovered Coral's work in a newspaper article many years ago. At the time we had no internet and I couldn't find information about her art anywhere but I was ever vigilant for mention of her name and saw a short TV documentary about her which made my day. While browsing in a bookshop I discovered her book Splinters from the Fire. Without even browsing through it to see if it was worth buying I walked to the counter and paid for it. I have poured over this little book for years!

"The Bushmen are the only custodians of a priceless treasure: a culture, with its roots directly in the hunter-gatherer ancestry of all mankind. While these little people manage to survive physically their unique culture is rapidly disappearing. The writings, the personal art creations of Coral Fourie and the brotherhood she shared with the Bushmen aim at keeping the flame of a threatened people alive. For the San culture forms of an intrinsic part of the treasures of humanity. Coral Fourie watches over it with much sense and sensibility."

 Coral Fourie is on Face Book. Click for her art page.

An image from the book Splinters from the Fire by Coral Fourie. I love that her paintings are influenced by her time working with the Bushmen

Scatterlings over Africa by Coral Fourie. 

Change of the guard. Acrylic on canvas by Robert Slingsby
Robert Slingsby is another artist who is inspired by ancient rock paintings and petroglyphs, especially those found in the Richtersveld. He has developed his own alphabet of petroglyphs and uses both ancient and contemporary symbols in his work. See his website here. Link to his petroglyph series here.

Robert Slingsby

Artwork by Soly Cisse, one of Senegal's internationally best-known artists. See more here.

Artwork by Soly Cisse. See more here and an interesting blog post by Yayemarie, here.

Mind of the Mathematician by Ethiopian-born artist, Wosene Kosrof . See more work here.

Tsevie III. Mixed Media painting by Togolese-born artist Sokey Edorh. See more of Sokey's work here.

Dance the Trance. Fabric and thread collage by Mary-Ann Orr.
Mary-Ann's "Thread-art works utilize unwanted household textiles, industrial waste and virtually anything that can be stitched down. The textiles are deconstructed into confetti-sized pieces, providing her with a pallet of millions of multi-coloured pieces that are then re-constructed into canvases."
See more of Mary-Ann's work at The Cape Gallery, here.