Double Vision (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm PayneOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
The Double Vision installation
The life stories of San (specifically the !Kung and |Xam) individuals' stories are shown in this installation.
We are reminded how histories are snippets of the past, often disassociated from the teller.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
The supernatual potency of the eland
The eland was an animal supreme importance to many San groups, the indigenous people of southern Africa. The |Xam San of the Karoo believed the eland to be the animal which held the most supernatural potency, and the /kaggen's (god's) favourite animal.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Pieces of stories
The eland skeleton is inscribed with the ideas that are the traces of the stories of the San, which are now transcribed in the Bleek & Lloyd archives.
In the 1870s and 1880s Lucy Lloyd and Wilhelm Bleek, interviewed many |Xam and !Kung men, women and children. The interviews were transcribed into The Bleek and Lloyd Archives.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
'I am the one who dies in trance and then comes alive again'
For the San, the activation of energy and contact with the spirit word is achieved through the communal trance dance.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
The land provides but demands respect and skill - a harmony between people and the environment.
Double Vision (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm PayneOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
There are powerful relationships between man, nature and spiritual beings. These relationships can be explored in trance, in nature and in our every day life.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Body adornment and modification
Hunter-gatherer communities had a range of clothing, accessories, body modification (such as tattoos and scarification), body paint and fragrances, and hair styles, that formed part of their social identities.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
'I am the lion star'
Double Vision (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm PayneOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
'I am the time of the blackest night when distant rain comes to us'
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Spirituality
I am the dead man who rose from the ground and rode the rain
I am my names which float upon the wind above a path
I am the different ways to tell a story
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
The real world and the spirit world
'I am the rock surface on which the other world is figured'
In San rock art, the rock surface was believed to be a veil between the real and spirit worlds - painted images are painted appearing from or entering into cracks or crevices in the rock surface.
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Human-Animal-Nature
I am |Kaggen who bites the hunter so that the eland may live
I am lord of the desert, owner of the shade
Eland bones from 'Double Vision' (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne, with poetry and phrases by San (/Xam) individualsOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
'I am heaven's thing'
Double Vision (2006) by Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm PayneOriginal Source: Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand
Authors and Creators
The interviews helped researchers interpret the meaning of the rock art - and interpret the archeological past.
The individuals who told these oral histories are named. This starkly contrasts the anonymity of the painters of the rock art, their ancestors.
The San and Khoe of southern Africa - then and now
The Bleek and Lloyd Archives
Installation Curators: Pippa Skotnes and Malcolm Payne
Online exhibition curator: Tammy Hodgskiss
