Unisa online - Scratches on the face --- antiquity and contemporaneity in South

Published by Unisa Press and Iziko Museums Editor: Hayden Proud This book was published in conjunction with the exhibition " Scratches on the face: antiquity and contemporaneity in South African art", curated by Hayden Proud, Curator of Historical Paintings and Sculpture, Iziko Museums of Cape Town. The marking of this book is so much a part of the human project in southern Africa. In pre-colonial times, it took the form of ancient rock engravings; at another it articulated boundaries where people could or could not live because of their skin colour. It resulted in the deepest and most invasive scars in the earth ever made in the rapacious extraction of mineral wealth. In a metaphorical sense, too, it has resulted in the marking and scarring of the psyche of its inhabitants. While in certain respects these aspects may be common to the faces of all countries, in South Africa they assume a powerful role in shaping human lives and culture.

The earliest creative scratchings made by the human hand, it is now believed, were made in South Africa about 70 000 years ago. These startling archaeological discoveries were made from 1993 onwards in the Blombos cave in limestone cliffs overlooking the Indian Ocean on the Southern Cape coast.

They are now rewriting the history of human development in terms of intelligent mark-making and symbolic behaviour which predate discoveries made elsewhere in the world by over 40 000 years.

This exhibition is the result of a cultural exchange agreement between the Governments of the Republic of India and the Republic of South Africa. The Indian tour was organised by Professor Rajeev Lochan of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of India and the High Commission of South Africa in India.

The exhibition will be mounted at the following venues:
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, 8 December 2007-3 January 2008
National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, 10 January-3 February 2008
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 15 November 2008-31 July 2009.