Land is in Art

I used to make fun of my brother Noel and his obsession with land in his art, but not anymore.  Two weeks ago, I went to a wonderful exhibition af the National Art Gallery of Namibia called "Legacies of a Colonial Town."   The exhibition was built into a faux township shack and chronicled the life of Windhoek from a colonial German city through the South Africa occupation from 1920 to 1990 and then as the independent capital of the Namibian Nation.  2 things stuck out at me, well 3 if you count the mosquitos.  :)

1. Windhoek was originally founded by the local tribes in 1840 ish with help from some missionaries.  The locals liked the area around Windhoek because it has fresh water bubbling up from the //Ae //Gams below the city.  Pretty much below where I am right now.  Also, the city is 1,700 meters high so there are NO mosquitos.  Let me say that again, there are NO MOSQUITOS.  As someone who has had Malaria multiple times, that's nothing to joke about.  So, the local Namibians recognized a good piece of land, the Germans took notice and it's been the art of the Politic every since.

Christuskirche and the Independence Museum

2. A sacred space is well hidden in downtown Windhoek.  The above picture is pretty much the center of Windhoek.  That church is a Lutheran church, built in 1910 by the Germans.  I do want to go to service there because it's beautiful AND in German.  But I digress.  The big 'golden tooth' you see is situated on perhaps the most hotly contested part of Windhoek.  Just by the two palm trees in the right part of the picture there is a small building (well small in comparison to the 40 meter tall North Korean beheamouth) called the Alte Feste/Old Fortress.  It was the first building built in Windhoek as the German Administrative center.  During the wars of 1904-1908, the Germans had a concentration camp for the Herero and Nama people.  Almost 8,000 people 'lived' in an area the size of the Commons in Brattleboro ie NOT very big.  When the war was over, the Germans built a twice life sized equestrian memorial to all the German soldiers who died fighting the 'native rebellion.'  It was built right near where many of these natives perished (mostly women and children) at the hands of the Germans.  The monument stood at that place for almost 100 years.  However, 2 years ago - to celebrate 20 years of independence - the monument was moved.

Moving the Reiterdenkmal
  

The German-Namibians were up in Arms because they thought it would be destroyed.  It wasn't.  The Namibian government knew that it was a valid piece of Namibian history.  Yet now, the tallest building in Windhoek, arguably a work of art, called the Independence Museum, is built on a spot where the colonizer tried to wipe out the independence of the colonized.  One thing, it's not open yet....

3. Katutura - The Place We Do Not Wish To Settle.

There is a road in Windhoek called the Western Bypass.  It was built by the Apartheid SWA regime to skirt around the city and make travel north and south in the country much easier.  That was 50 plus years ago.  Now, the bypass is still a bypass but it passes right through the city. 

Windhoek is encircled by mountains on all but the western side and that is where the SWA government decided to move the 'dark spots' on 'white' Windhoek.  They moved people from a location relatively close to the city - at least within walking distance for all the day laborers who worked in town - and put them ten kilometers out.  Interestingly enough, it is right over a hill and out of sight from town.  Now, Katutura is the home of the majority of musicians, artists and culture in Windhoek.

I don't think I will ever question the importance of land in Art again.

More soon.

Ian