
|
Past Exhibitions
|
“I am interested in the different cultural perceptions of nature and people’s place in it…the shifting boundaries between animals and humans represented in indigenous knowledge systems … Animals often become metaphors for universal concerns - cycles of life, birth, death etc. or are used in a shamanistic way, as a conduit to a different state of consciousness". In Zambia hyenas especially are widely considered to be vehicles of transformation between animals and humans.
Click to enlarge each picture & return with the back button Spirit Lions Since the 1800s Europeans in Central Africa have reported an association between lions and the spirits of deceased chiefs. In 1832 Gamitto, a Portuguese explorer in the Luangwa Valley noticed the Africans there being able to chase lions away from the animals they had killed and take the meat for themselves. Local Africans explained this was possible because the lions were really benevolent chief’s spirits.
“The person that the spirit lion comes to is made to feel sick until the job is completed…If the person does the bidding of the spirit lion he or she usually feels well again and acquires a special skill, such as knowledge of medicines or healing.” (Strickland)
|
ANIMALS
night image
|
|
ANIMALS
TAR & LIME
TRADE ROUTES
FUNKY LANDSCAPES
CULTURAL OVERLAYS
ROCK ART & INITIATION |
||
|
© Pam Guhrs-Carr 2008 |
||