SERIMA – a kind of rebirth

The Serima Mission Church in Zimbabwe, founded by Father Groeber (1903 – 1972), a Swiss missionary, after the Second World War, is a landmark in the anticipated  rebirth of Africa.

I have not been to Serima and if I had to go it would be a kind of pilgrimage.  The images presented here mostly come from a book.

Father Groeber and sculptors

It is a biding passion for me to see how the artists of the modern world manifest concepts of the sacred;   at the same, how cultures that are not European do this.  The relief work, painting and sculpture of this mission station, facilitated by Father Groeber, is remarkable.

The Last Supper

 

Last Supper in Ethiopian coptic idiom

He stated that, from the beginning, he tried to keep traditional European images at bay, encouraging the African sculptors to develop a wholly African idiom.  It is probable that he was not entirely successful at this.

FIgures from the Old Testament

 

Annunciation

The search for the African idiom has yielded great art in the realm of the sacred and I think of the Misa Luba, the Congolese mass, to mention one memorable achievement.  Serima, at a distance, recalls for me, the Romanesque of Europe, but there are elements that are unique as well.  The idea of a “pure” culture is probably a myth.  This work, though, has Africa at its heart.

Scene of Stilling the Storm

 

Figures from Old Testament

I am uncertain what the link between the Serima art and Shona sculpture is.  I’d be happy if someone could tell me.  In the meantime I can only wonder at this rich creativity coming from a country that has known war and political unrest.

Christ figure

 

Mother and Child

© Will van der Walt

www.wilwilltravel.wordpress.com

Les Semboules, Antibes

February, 2018

 

Sources

ZimFieldGuide.com

Book on Serima, details pending

 

Images

ZimFieldGuide.com – Fr Groeber, Church

Book on Serima, details pending

 

 

  

 

 

 

Shona magic – sculpture from Zimbabwe

The first in a series of two

“There is always something new out of Africa”, the Roman historian wrote.  His twinkling optimism has taken a battering in the past few centuries, but when there is something new from Africa, it is remarkable.

These were my thoughts when I visited Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town years ago and, for the first time, saw the sculpture of Shona artists from Zimbabwe.  Since that time the international reputation of these artists has burgeoned.

I struggled at first to find information on the work and recently I was happy to see an article in Wikipedia that filled the gaps.

We read that the sculpture of the Shona artists has been “an art phenomenon and a miracle.”  The reason is that there are no precedents for art of this kind in this culture, compared to other parts of Africa.

The setting for these works was, of course, as special as it was unusual — generous spaces between the works, each against a verdant backdrop overarched by the majesty of the mountain.

I found most of the work strikingly creative.  My reactions ranged from being charmed to being disturbed, from a philosophical response to being deeply touched.

It gave the optimism of the Roman historian a new face.

© Will van der Walt

www.willwilltravel.wordpress.com

Les Semboules, Antibes

February, 2018

Source

Wikipedia :  Sculpture of Zimbabwe

 

Images

My photographs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shona Magic – sculptures from Zimbabwe

The second in a series of two

The work of the Shona sculptors has been a revelation to me.  Consistently, they have delivered memorable forms in a wide range of themes.

There is fertility, support for AIDS victims, motherhood.  There is blindness, romantic love, images of surrealism.

Some images speak of anguish, some, of sadness.  Some are angry.

Very little of this work is design for design’s sake.  But, as one writer said, they don’t leave nature as they found it.  Some images have a dream-like quality.

I have one regret and that is that I did not, at the time, attach the names of artists to their works.  But I honour them still, whoever they may be.

© Will van der Walt

www.willwilltravel.wordpress.com

Les Semboules, Antibes

February, 2018

 Source

Wikipedia: Sculpture from Zimbabwe

 Images

My photographs

 

 

 

 

 

SNOW – the long wait

I open the lounge window to the sound of rain falling on the leaves of the magnolia tree.  But where is the snow? I wonder.  It is not a strange question for one from the Western Cape to ask.  Will it be that I’ll miss snow for one more year on the continent of Europe?

My experiences with snow are few and far between.  It was only when I spent a winter in South Korea that I could join the conversation.

The tree of snow, Daeso

A jonja, covered with snow, Daeso

 

Poetry in snow, Daeso

In France I find myself, weather-wise, in a strange region.  The Côte d’Azur is wedged into the south western corner of the country.  The rest of France is three to four degrees below freezing (c), while the mercury in the Cote d’Azur stands at 12°c.  France is washed away by floods and the Côte d’Azur is dry and sunny.  My partner Claudie calls that sun a Moroccan sun.  Perhaps climate change is not a hoax, as some insist.

Claudie, who has lived here for more than 30 years, cannot remember when last it snowed.  In 2008, there was a freak snow fall in Port Vauban, the harbour of Antibes.

In 2012, there was even less.

Today we see television scenes of Paris, at minus 20°c, under heavy snow.  The media are full of debates as to why the country was caught napping with this snow fall.  But under the superficial irritation for the inconveniences, lurks the European’s love for snow.  In a distance one hears the melancholy song Tombe la neige (The snow falls) by Salvatore Adamo.

Snow … which softens things, refreshes them, purifies them, simplifies the forms of things, allows objects to peep out from under the blinding white of the crystal blanket, that brings smiles and playfulness, that changes the world.

I wait in the sound of the rain on the magnolia leaves.  The lady on the television screen says that the mercury will lie at 10°c for us.  Still, when the rain stops, I’ll take my walk and marvel at the pre-Alps with their ponchos of snow.

 

© Will van der Walt

www.willwilltravel.wordpress.com

Les Semboules, Antibes

February, 2018

 

Source

France 2 television

 

Images

Snow in Daeso – my photos

Snow in Port Vauban – Don Dwinell (2008)

Snow in Antibes – Lesley Stem, Real France (2012)

Snow on the pre-Alps – my photo