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| Pam Guhrs - Carr | |
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I was born in 1946 in Malawi and raised in Zambia, in one of Africa's prolific wildlife areas, the Luangwa Valley. As a Kunda resident I grew up with an intimate knowledge of the wildlife in the area. The Kunda are a multi-ethnic language group, under 6 chiefs in a rural area where the people are outnumbered by wild animals. From my family village in Luangwa's wilderness environment my work has been informed on multiple levels as I draw on its history, indigenous cultures and bio-diversity. My art attempts to come to terms with various cultural overlays as a Zambian artist with a western university art education. |
| About the Artist | |
During the Kunda initiation ceremony of my two daughters I realised that the clay images traditionally made for this ritual looked similar to ancient rock art in other parts of Zambia. Interest in the art of local women's initiation ceremonies and male masking societies has led to formal research for my MA Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg under Karel Nel. My work challenges hackneyed perceptions of animals in Africa. From western eyes that visit zoos and game reserves, to local perceptions of animals as intrinsically linked to ancestors, I revision the metaphors that bind humans and animals. The slave and ivory traders that once used the Luangwa Valley as a route to Zanzibar and the East populate my paintings along with owls, hyenas and gazing tourists. Spirit, transformation and secrecy entwine with notions of animal as commodity. |
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Sun Cypher
2008 |
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| My tar and lime images are inspired by rock paintings in Eastern Zambia which are girls' initiation symbols. Where I live they are still used by women in these rituals today.
Elemental materials such as tar and lime, one organic one inorganic reflect the living and the dead. Both are subject to chemical changes and therefore reflect these concepts of transformation and regeneration – themes common to both my work and that of the women’s rituals.
The Sun Cypher is a metaphor denoting male characteristics.
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Forest
2008 |
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| There is an interplay between bush and village, nature, spirit and the human world. In the western notion of nature there is an ambivalence which exists about this aspect of danger. Spirits are believed to reside in the bush while the village is a place of order and culture.
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Leopard
2008 |
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This is inspired by the 'nsimba' image – a leopard representing dangerous energies surrounding ritual temperatures and pollution beliefs in local initiation teachings.
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Spirit Lion
2008 |
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| 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)
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Spirit Lion II
2006 |
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Maneater
2004 |
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As Above So Below
2007 |
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| 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 |
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Night Study
2008 |
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Outside Shower
2007 |
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Flying Fish
2008 |
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Elephant Crossing
2008 |
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Doorways
2006 |
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Night Image
2005 |
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Transmutation
2008 |
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The Gossip
2008 |
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Aadvark in Forest
2008 |
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| "The aadvark softly treads the forest floor/
making music with his feet" Pablo Neruda |
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Bedroom Window 2.00 am
2006 |
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| scary at night on safari |
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Lucky Fish
2006 |
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| labels of Lucky Star pilchards under paint |
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Birdwatcher
2007 |
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| watch and be watched |
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Regeneration
2008 |
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I did these blindfolded.
The previous day I drew and redrew a dancing girl repeatedly and figuratively for 12 hours until it became remembered in a bodily almost cellular level. The next day I chose four and with closed eyes and a 8cm wide brush drew the image in tar creating a personalised calligraphy. I was aiming to convey a sensation, an unconscious gesture, an elemental figure.
I love the idea of a simple abstract shape loaded with complex concepts like the rock paintings that inspired this. The image of the girl dancing is from an African initiation where she dances after being released as a transformed woman after the long ordeal. The same image is used in the ancient rock art near to where these rituals are practiced.
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| Education and biography | |
| Fine Art degree from WITS University in Johannesburg in 1970. M.A.Fine Arts at WITS University in Johannesburg in 2008, examining cultural initiation practices among the Kunda people of Eastern Province Zambia and its relation to ancient rock art in the area. I have exhibited my work in Zambia, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, the United States and London. My work is represented in museums and collections internationally and has been auctioned by Christies in London. SOLO SHOWS 2008 RaMoMA Museum of Modern Art Nairobi, Kenya 2007 River Gallery, Livingstone, Zambia 2007 “Echo”. Origins Centre Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa 2007 Talisman, Nairobi, Kenya 2006 Tanzanian Game Trackers, Arusha, Tanzania 2005 African Easel Gallery. Choebe, Botswana 2005 Foxwood Gardens, Houghton Johannesburg 2004 Old Elephant House, Johannesburg Zoo 2004 Jagoda Gems, Lusaka Zambia 2003 Camel House, Mfuwe Zambia 2002 Cultural Heritage Centre, Arusha Tanzania 2002 Peponi, Lamu, Kenya 2001 In situ mosaic, Everard Read Gallery Johannesburg 2001 African Easel, Botswana 2000 Henry Tyali Visual Arts Centre, Lusaka Zambia 1999 Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg South Africa 1998 Mpapa Gallery, Lusaka Zambia 1997 Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1994 Mpapa Gallery, Lusaka Zambia 1991 Chris Crake Gallery, Johannesburg 1989 Chris Crake Gallery, Johannesburg 1989 Mpapa Gallery, Lusaka Zambia 1987 Chris Crake, Gallery Johannesburg 1979 Mpapa Gallery, Lusaka GROUP SHOWS 2002 Christies, London 2002 “Contemporary South African Artists”, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 2001 Christies, London 1998 Msikili, Zambia 1997 Everard Read “New Acquisitions”, Johannesburg 1995 Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1995 "Works on paper", Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1994 Mbili show, Robert Loader workshop, Zambia 1993 “International exhibition of Natural History”, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1992 Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg 1990 “African Artists” Aspen, Colorado, USA 1988 Jackson Hole, Colorado, USA 1987 Game Coin, San Antonio, USA 1985 “Contemporary South African Artists”, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg |
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| Future shows | |
| Alliance Francaise, Lusaka, Zambia February 2009 | |
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