| "I am responding to the stones in the Karoo. I want to acknowledge the ways in which people have worked in stone and shaped constructions and structures that have become strong features in the landscape. The selection and stacking of stone is significant, particularly in the building of walls and other structures like steps, beacons and gravestones in Nieu Bethesda.
The Karoo is resonant with time and timelessness, a material continuum: a measure in itself, relentlessly expanding. One becomes aware, as one moves through its vastness, of its timelessness but also of how it consumes time, how it resists measurement and how it defies attempts to enter its immeasurability.
The !Xoe project is providing one with the opportunity of experiencing aspects of the human encounter with stone - an original material. By engaging the services of a stonemason I have sought to pay homage to the unique contribution of skilled artisans in this area. Stone-stacking, construction and the resultant passage of engagement with the essentially primary materials and the people of Nieu Bethesda are my main interest in the installation.
The human being is one of many protagonists active in the shaping of landmarks. Gravity, time and earth work against our attempts at containing stone. Gravity is witness, alongside the cycles of night and day, the elements - wind, rain, sun and dust, to the acts of building and collapsing inherent in the human engagement with stone. The terrain resists our attempts to contain it. One feels greatly challenged when trying to break through the 'wall' of matter to find the place." |
