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Sparingly dispersed throughout Southern Africa, rock paintings can be found, dating back thousands of years. These images are the only threads of history left to tell the story of the San way of life that no longer exists. However, today a few descendents of these first people of Southern Africa, continue the artistic tradition of their ancestors; relating by way of modern materials and techniques their yearning for the past, their sorrows, joys and hopes for the future.
When looking at the rock paintings from centuries back, one realizes that art has always played an essential role in San society. One should therefore not be surprised to find this group of San artists trying to bring back the role of art as an expressive outlet for their traditions and recent life experiences. Today the Kuru artists are developing their own voice and are creating awareness about the loss of their hunter-gatherer existence and the impact it has had on their lives, through their art.
Originating in 1990 as part of the Kuru Development Trust, in D’Kar, western Botswana, the Kuru Art Project has produced contemporary art that is original and remarkable in character. With no formal art lessons to influence their own innate abilities, the Kuru artists create from the heart. They all work in different techniques, including oil on canvas, linocuts, lithographs and more.
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Since its inception, the artists of the Kuru Art Project have become well known internationally, exhibiting in galleries in Gaborone, Windhoek, Cape Town, Geneva, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, Chicago, Stockholm, Darwin, to name but a few. They have won many awards, both collectively and individually and their work is to be found in private and public collections throughout the world. Members of the project have had their work used in many publications, book covers, on the tails of British Airways planes and on a set of stamps issued by the Botswana Postal Services.
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The nineteen artists currently participating in the project are Naro and Dcui San. They all live in D’Kar and all of them have grown up in the vast Kalahari sandveld in and around the Ghanzi district in western Botswana. Most of the artists are also skilled traditional dancers, storytellers, musicians and craft producers. They are proud to know that they all play an important role in the conservation of their culture, in the community where they live, as well as in the larger world through their art.
Kuru is a Naro word, meaning “Do” or “Create”.
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| Kalahari Sunset | Women artists outside the studio |
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| Digging out an edible tuber | Traditional dancing |
