BRIEF HISTORY- KURU ART AND CULTURAL PROJECTS

Once the Kuru Development Trust had set up structures enabling the inhabitants of D'Kar and the surrounding settlements to strengthen themselves economically, the committee could give attention to the community's need to strengthen its cultural identity as an integral part of the development process. The committee organised an inspiring group tour in 1989 to the Tsodilo hills in northern Botswana, to view rock paintings which are reputedly the works of earlier San people. After this stimulating excursion, the people came back full of inspiration. Was there no way in which they could revive the skills of their ancestors? The success of this tour resulted in the birth of the Kuru Art Project and later the Cultural Centre. The Art Project was initially housed in a small room adjacent to the main Kuru office. A project coordinator was hired in 1990 and the first workshop was held with local women painting on fabric. These local women, Coex'ae, Dada, Nxabe, Cgoise and X'aga produced some cloths and these were sent to the Botswana National Art Gallery for an exhibition of textile art. The gallery promptly bought these cloths for their permanent collection. The approach of the art centre has not been to present "art lessons" at all - but rather to provide facilities, materials and encouragement to individuals, who are invited to play and experiment, and thus teach themselves a personal way of handling the new materials. The Art Project has continued to consolidate itself and now has a large painting studio and a separate printing room, store room and dark room. Over the years a variety of workshops have been held with the artists. This has resulted in the artists producing a series of lithographc, black and white and colour reduction prints, etchings and monoprints. In collaboration with the cultural centre the Art Project has also brought out Qauqaua, the first folk tale written in Naro and English. The story was told by Coex'ae Qgam and the artists gave their interpreation of it by means of lithographs, which are included in the book. Initially the artists painted with acrylics and fabric and board. Today thet prefer working with oil paints on stretched canvases. The number of artists in the project fluctuated but has setlled between 14 male and female artists. The women concentrate largely on depicting veld food, veld food collecting, birds, beadwork and items of clothing and jewellery. The men on the other hand focus on depicting animals, mythical creatures and people. Although there is occasionally a cross over in terms of subject matter it seems that the artists prefer to follow the traditional division of labour and life experience in their artwork. The artists have held exhibitions and major shows throughout southern Africa, Europe and more recently Australia and America. They won many awards both collectively and individually. These prices include several prizes at the Artists of Botswana competitions, the Graphica Creativa Printmaking award in 1993, and the invitation to design a mosaic and murals for the main government hospital in Gaborone, Botswana. Their work is also able to be found in private and public collections throughout the world. We are hoping that the success of the Art Project at D'Kar will inspire the world community to further facilitate the unique contribution that contemporary San can make to the treasure of world art.

Selected group exhibitions:

1991 National Art Gallery, Windhoek, Namibia
1991 National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana
1992 National Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
1992 National Museum and Art Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana
1993 Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa
1993 William Humphreys Museum, Kimberley, South Africa
1993 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, U.K.
1993 Images of Africa, Copenhagen, Denmark
1993 Rebecca Hossack Gallery, Picadilly Corner, London, U.K.
1993 Graphica Creativa Triennale, Jyvaskyla, Finland
1993 Volkenkunde Museum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1993 Gallery Charlotte Daneel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1994 Intergrafia ’94, Kracow, Poland
1994 Barbicon Concourse Gallery, London, U.K.
1994 People, Power and Politics, Johannesburg, South Africa
1995 Johannesburg Biennale, Johannesburg, South Africa
1995 Dusable Museum, Chicago, U.S.A.
1996 South African National Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
1997 Chelsea Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
1997 Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
1997 Guild Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa
1998 Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1998 Volvo Complex, Stockholm, Sweden
1998 Artists of Botswana Exhibition, Gaborone, Botswana
1998 Absa Group Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
1999 National Art Gallery, Windhoek, Namibia
1999 Three women – Three perspectives, travelling exhibition, Botswana ( with Neo Matome and Ann Golifer)
1999 Globe Gallery, Hay-on-Wye, Heresfordshire, U.K.
1999 Lew Allen Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
1999 Kunstreich Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Workshops

1992 Thapong International Artists’ Workshop
1993 Thapong International Artist’s Workshop
1994 Mbile International Artist’s Workshop,1994, Lusaka.Zambia.
1995 Thapong International Artist’s Workshop, Botswana.
1999 The Trickster project, Tamarind