Memory and Magic.

The art of Andry Kashivi and Bongi Kasiki was recently on display at the National Art Gallery of Namibia in Windhoek, forming part of the exhibition Memory and Magic--Contemporary Art of the !Xun and Khwe.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Most of these San artists were born in Angola, where they and their families got caught between the lines of civil war and Namibia's independence struggle. As means of survival, many opted to work for the South African occupying forces in Namibia and moved to the Omega army bases along the Kavango River. At independence in 1990, fearing reprisal, they were resettled in the arid plains of Schmidtsdrift, a farm near Kimberly in northern South Africa, which now houses the biggest settlement of displaced San people in the region.

Unlike the Kuru Art Project in Botswana, the !Xun and Khwe Cultural Project has been poorly supported. However, international interest was created by German art collector Hella Rabbethge-Schiller, who bought many of the artworks to encourage the artists. She exhibited them in Europe, and many artworks were sold.

Through this current exhibition, which is travelling from South Africa via Namibia and Botswana back to South Africa with support from the Goethe Institute/NaDS, local interest has been generated, and many of the artworks will return back to Southern Africa.