Creating the story of |Xau

Read the full post about the word |Xau

Selection of artist works from the film of |Xau

Virginia MacKenny

(l) ‘Of Holes and Things’ 2020-21 oil on canvas 160cm x 200cm  
(r) ‘Woodrose Explosion’ 2020 watercolour 29.5 x 23 cm.
Images copyright V. MacKenny

Ndaya Ilunga

(l) It’s only words; (r) Playing with empty words 2021
Images copyright Ndaya Ilunga

Margaret Courtney-Clarke

  • A 5 year-old boy performs around a small fire in the dry landscape of the Blouberg Resettlement Farm, Omaheke Region, Namibia
  • artefacts found on the nearby salt pan, Mama Lodge campsite
  • During a six-year drought, Juǀ’hoansi women Kanis Witbooi, Selma Jacobs and Eva Isaak join in to perform a Women perform a Rain Dance on the Omongwa (“Salt”) Pan
(top left) Fire in my Heart, Omaheke Region, Namibia, March 2019
(top right) The Ostrich Egg, Omaheke Region, Namibia, March 2019
(bottom) The Rain Dance #2, Omaheke Region, Namibia, October 2019

All images copyright Margaret Courtney-Clarke from her book ‘When Tears Don’t Matter’

Contributors to the film

  • Prof Sylvia Vollenhoven – Script, Concept & Editing
  • Ryan Lee Seddon – Cinematographer
  • Kutelani Rasikhuthuma – Online Editor
  • Prof Virginia MacKenny – Concept and Main Artworks: Of Holes and Things, Woodrose Explosion and Sharp Edged Grains
  • Ndaya Ilunga – Word and Graphic Art: It’s Only Words and Playing with Empty Words
  • Hilton Schilder – Music: Kalahari Thirst, Alter Native and eMail to the Ancestors
  • Basil Appollis – Voiceover artist
  • Bradley van Sitters, aka Danab ||Hui !Gaeb di !Huni!nâ !Gûkhoeb – Khoekhoegowab voiceover artist

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