Finding a Voice Amongst the Rocks: An Artist's Approach to Activism (2015)

Undergraduate: Ashley Conrad

Faculty Advisor: Beth Grabowski
Department: Art

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This summer I was provided the opportunity to engage in research under well-renowned South African artist, Robert Slingsby. We traveled from Cape Town to the Richtersveld desert in the Northern Cape, in order to research rock engravings made by the marginalized Nama tribe for hundreds of years. Slingsby discovered these drawings at a young age, and began his obsession for the archiving and preservation of the endangered community through his art works, which often employ rock iconography. Robert¿¿¿s work is laden with controversial themes of human rights, race relations, environmental politics, history and so much more. With Robert as guide, I trampled through the barren land, meticulously documenting the vestiges left behind by a people forced further and further out of society.

Robert showed us the land with these markings, providing clue to the culture of this group of people that have been marginalized by the radical politics and societal forces of white ruling and the apartheid era. He told us the history found in the drawings of the shamanistic people, which I recorded via documentary style video and photos for preservation and promotion of the spread of this story.

My research was multifaceted in that not only was I researching petroglyphs that are vital to the preservation of a culture, but I was also investigating the process of art making that professional artists employ.