Cosmic Echoes

Virtual exhibition

Cosmic Echoes: a Shared Sky Indigenous Art Exhibition is a celebration of humanity’s ancient cultural wisdom and how it relates to modern science. It stems from a vision by the SKAO and its partners, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, to bring together Indigenous artists living and working close to the SKA telescope sites.

Learn more about the exhibition here, and scroll down to explore the artworks.

The Cosmic Echoes: Shared Sky Indigenous Art Exhibition is an SKAO initiative, in collaboration with SARAO, CSIRO and the Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal Corporation. The SKAO recognises and acknowledges the Indigenous peoples and cultures that have traditionally lived on the lands on which their facilities are located. In Australia, the SKAO and CSIRO acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji as Traditional Owners and Native Title Holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, the site where the SKA-Low telescope is being built.

Download the full catalogue here

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Copyright notice

Painting showing the Emu in the Sky in the top left, the Southern cross in the middle where the stars are concentric circles connected by lines to one another. The bottom of the painting shows footprints of a bird and a 6 small telescope dishes looking up to the sky. — Caption of image:
**Bundaras (Stars) - Noeleen Hamlett**
*Acrylic on canvas 76 x 52 cm*
Under our southern sky the Southern Cross is our compass at night. The Emu in the Milky Way tells us when it’s emu egg season. The Seven Sisters teach vital skills and lessons of survival, of changing seasons and talks of creation. The Sisters became part of the landscape, water and springs as they fled from Yurlu. It also teaches us of the bond of family and relationships. The flowershaped symbol and the emu footprints represent moving forward, coming together to reflect our vision to create a better future. The telescopes look beyond the black holes in our galaxy to challenge and enrich our understanding of the Universe.

A man and woman performing a dance in a landscape. In the sky are two extended figures against a starry background. — Caption of image:
**Open Sky - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on canvas - 150 x 150 cm*
A man and a woman doing a KhoeSan celebration dance, transform into mythological beings existing beyond time and space. Honouring our ancient understanding of the connectedness of all that is. Modern technology and indigenous knowledge reaching out to each other across wide open skies.

Painting consisting of three canvases with a wave-like line connecting them together. On the left panel features a kangaroo, the right panel an emu. — Caption of image:
**The Sky Meets the Land - Godfrena Gilla**
*Acrylic on canvas Triptych - width 150 cm*
Stars across the sky shine like my Ancestors.
They protect us so we can protect the land
and animals. When the sun shines the plants,
animals and bush tucker (Indigenous food)
come to life. The water runs through the desert
in creeks and around water holes where we
set up camp for the night to eat and listen to
Dreamtime stories.

A woman with her newborn baby on her back and an Eland ahead of her. To her left is a telescope dish. A swirling night sky is above her. — Caption of image:
**Children of the San XI: A Star Is Born - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on canvas - 150 x 150 cm*

A women journeys with her newborn baby to celebrate the birth during the Easter season. She has calculated the right time for the ritual by consulting the moon and the stars.

Painting of seven circles filled with white, blue and purple dots. Each circle is surrounded by a colourful border which looks like a hood transitioning into a long neck. Together they look like seven sisters. — Caption of image:
**Seven Sisters - Vanessa Kelly**
*Acrylic on Canvas - 76 x 83 cm*
Seven sisters formed themselves into dust from Earth to hide as stars in the sky.

Composition of a landscape in the Karoo. From left to right there is a campfire, bushes, an eland and pond. Above these elements there are quiver trees and the moon against a brown background. — Caption of image:
**Footprints of the Eyes - Hendreas Vaalbooi**
*Mixed Media - 85 x 120 cm*

The stars shine gently like the soft glow of the eyes of the children. The moon casts
its eye on the earth to light our way. You can aim a stone at the head of the gemsbok
from any direction and you will not find your mark. He has the sharp eyes of a sentry.
Just like the Hok Meisie (Female Initiate), on guard at all times. A Bushman is always alert,
searching for sustenance. That is why we are the best protectors of nature.

The Stars Say Tsau

For Indigenous people all of creation has a spiritual essence and the stars have governed our behaviour since ancient times. We have always looked up to the sky to know when to hunt, when to sow, when to harvest and how to be aligned with the seasons. The Universe speaks in a soft language that the Ancients understood. The heart of the artist perceives the echoes of the softness and shares it with the world. And, elsewhere on the landscape of understanding, scientists unravel the very same messages.

Painting showing several astronomical elements. Central in the painting sits the Emu in the Sky. Above it is a blue band filled with colourful planets in different sizes. The top right holds the full moon. Below the Emu are patches of different forms and colours, intermingled with stars and galaxies. — Caption of image:
**The First Astronomers - Dawn Hamlett & Leeann Kelly-Pedersen**
*Acrylic on canvas - 153 x 122 cm*

Our ancestors travelled this land for many years in Australia, living off the land and following the seasons in search of food and water in their tribal family groups. All men carried out cultural ceremonies from their tribal grounds. They would attend meetings on a special ground where they would gather with other tribes.
Travelling across our Country was always at night. Our Ancestors found a way to travel to their destination by studying the night sky and using the stars as a compass to guide their way, with the full Moon for light. This painting represents our Ancestors’ travel method, including the Milky Way which was also important to them. It guided the way and they also followed the movement of the emu, that can be seen in the Milky Way, to know when it was the egg laying season.
The Nyarluwarri (Seven Sisters, Pleiades) can be seen on the right. The Morning Star can be seen at the bottom, to the left is the Southern Cross and the large circle at the top is the full Moon with the Evening Star next to the Moon. The pink dots represent the wildflower seasons and also the aurora in the sky. The Southern Cross, Morning and Evening stars are the main features used as a compass.

Painting showing thick white lines crossing a canvas which has a yellow band on top, an orange band in the middle and a red band on the bottom. On top of the lines sit different animal and human figurines. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie and Youth Artists - Essential Connectedness**
*Acrylic on canvas - 75 x 75 cm*

We are bound to each other by invisible and unbreakable threads that connect us with all that is.

Painting showing thick white lines crossing a canvas which has a pink band on top, a purple band in the middle and a blue band on the bottom. On top of the lines sit different animal and human figurines. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie and Youth Artists - Essential Connectedness**
*Acrylic on canvas - 75 x 75 cm*

We are bound to each other by invisible and unbreakable threads that connect us with all that is.

Painting of a telescope in the bottom right looking up to the sky. From bottom left to top right crawls a pink band like a snake with three flower-like patterns on top of it. The sky has circular patterns with different colours. Next to the white telescope dish are a lot of small triangles all pointed upwards to the sky. — Caption of image:
**Seven Sisters - Noeleen Hamlett**
*Acrylic on canvas - 153 x 122 cm*
The Seven Sisters in our night sky guiding us in our search with the telescopes and Christmas tree-shaped antennas. Leading us into a better future, as we come together at our meeting places, taking a big step forward.

Painting of a landscape in the Karoo with trees and a full moon. — Caption of image:
**Shooting Star - Hendreas Vaalbooi**
*Mixed Media - 20 x 30 cm*
We believe that a Shooting Star brings luck and can make your wishes come true. If your faith and your belief is strong, you can achieve your dreams. The Shooting Star is a marker pointing us the way that we need to go.

Painting of an eclipse. In the middle is a big black circle surrounded by an orange halo. Around this central circle are five more smaller circles looking like the phases of the moon in orange. Below the central circle are three big yellow flower-like circles created out of smaller yellow petals. — Caption of image:
**The Eclipse - Susan Merry**
*Acrylic on canvas - 77 x 77 cm*
The eclipse and all the people watching it.

The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete

8 x Mono Prints
Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm

Painting with brush strokes in yellow, orange and green on paper. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
!Khao-khoen or Family

Painting with brush strokes in yellow, red and different shades of green on paper. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
The River that flows through us

Painting with thin brush strokes in yellow, green and red on paper. Different forms appear where the strokes touch one another. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
Veldkos (Bush Tucker)

Painting with thin brush strokes in yellow and blue on paper. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
The Xamanin Animal

Painting with thin lines in many colours on paper. The lines do not fully cover the page and leave many strips blank. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
Ancient Tongues

Painting with brush strokes in yellow, blue and lilac covering the paper. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
!Goas The Girl

Painting of a rectangle in the middle filled with the colours yellow, orange and brown surrounded by specks of paint in different colours. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
Ash In the Sky

Painting with brush strokes in yellow, orange and brown on paper. — Caption of image:
**The Raw Essence - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*
Tribal Echoes

Who Am I

Caught between the earth and sky

Our Ancestors believed that to walk the earth with no mind to the sky we could survive but never thrive. To cross the borders from our place to theirs, we bring the outside inside, listen to the animals and heed the timeless rituals. The language of the stars is echoed in everything on earth.

We must walk the Sky for we are heaven’s things.

Author of quote://Kabboa 19th Century Bushman Visionary

Painting spread over three canvases together showing a circle. The left canvas is rectangular and covers half a circle, within it is a man with a spear. The top right canvas has a quarter circle and a white drawing of a telescope within it. The bottom right canvas completes the circle. Footsteps walk across this painting upwards. — Caption of image:
**Little Things Grow - Carlleen Dingo**
*Acrylic on canvas - triptych*
*61 x 30.5 cm, 35.5 x 35.5 cm & 35.5 x 35.5 cm*

The circles represent the past, present and future, not quite linking up to hint at time passing. The important elements are:
The larger work represents the past. A historic meeting with the 10 original Elders who submitted the first Wajarri Native Title claim. This gave Wajarri People a voice as they came together to share the importance of Country. Footprints in the river sand represent those Wajarri People who have passed and whose names are no longer spoken but their names remain in community memories.
Bottom right (small colourful piece) represents the present. Wildflower season, running barefoot through the flowers along the Gascoyne and Murchison Rivers, makes us present. Water makes everything come to life, full of colour.
Top right (purple and black) represents the future. Antenna standing proudly in the mid-Western Australia on Wajarri Land. Learning the stories hidden in the glow of the night sky, while the Emu in the Sky tells us a different story.

Painting of three figure dancing around a fireplace. Up in the sky above them is a full moon. The scene is surrounded by tracks of an eland and an Eland in the top right corner. — Caption of image:
**Healing Dance - Hendreas Vaalbooi**
*Mixed Media - 21 x 30 cm*
We do the Healing Dance around the fire at night to pave the way for our Elders to travel to the place of the Ancestors. They go there to ask for help to heal our people. The entire Universe participates. The Stars twinkle in our hearts, the Moon lights our way and all of Nature bestows its wisdom upon us so that healing can take place.

Painting of a black hole. The black hole sits in the middle with spiralling purple lines going towards it. — Caption of image:
**The Black Hole - Vanessa Kelly**
*Acrylic on canvas - 77 x 80 cm*

Painting of a mountainous landscape. The mountains tower high against a blue sky. An animal and man are on the field in front of the mountains. Stars and a figure with a bow are pictured in the sky. — Caption of image:
**The Great Spirit - Shirdio Saaiman**
*Acrylic on Paper - 30 x 42 cm*
A KhoeSan man walks in the fields by night. He encounters an eland and they see
the figure of the Great Spirit in the sky. A big, bright star shows them the way and
leads them on the right path. I am a 17-year-old Grade 11 learner at Carnarvon
High School. I love drawing and I also play rugby for the school. I don’t socialise much.

Painting of a telescope in white against a dark background. Above the satellites clouds of white and yellow seem to escape away from the telescope dish. The painting is speckled with white flecks. — Caption of image:
**The Milky Way on Country - Vanessa Kelly**
*Acrylic on canvas, 91 x 122cm*
Out at the Murchison with the telescope on Country where SKAO exists.
The small colourful dots are stars.

Terence Visagie & Youth Artists - Crossing Oceans Inside

The Northern Cape Youth Participants in the project developed individual compositions using sand, rocks, fynbos (indigenous flora) and paper cutouts to create engaging compositions that were photographed. Bringing the outside inside. Rocks become planets and sand morphs into cosmic dust. We use elements from earth to show our connection to the heavens and to honour the way our Ancestors guide us towards a brighter future.

Youth artists: Brayton Vyver, Cherman Dollies, Je-dewaan Jann, Shirdio Saaiman and Tylor Mouers

Composition of different elements: figures of animals and people sitting on a tree made from natural elements such as twigs, rocks and grass, with some stars above them. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie & Youth Artists - Crossing Oceans Inside**
*Photo Collages 42 x 59.4 cm*

Composition of different elements: four people and two elands in a landscape made up of sand with stars overhead. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie & Youth Artists - Crossing Oceans Inside**
*Photo Collages 42 x 59.4 cm*

Composition of different elements: a line of sand crosses the image from the upper left to the bottom right. Next to it, grass represents a tree with rocks. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie & Youth Artists - Crossing Oceans Inside**
*Photo Collages 42 x 59.4 cm*

Composition of different elements: a spiral of sand surrounded by stars and people. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie & Youth Artists - Crossing Oceans Inside**
*Photo Collages 42 x 59.4 cm*

Composition of different elements: A line of sand from left to right with two people next to it. To the bottom are three differently coloured rocks and a tree represented by a twig. — Caption of image:
**Terence Visagie & Youth Artists - Crossing Oceans Inside**
*Photo Collages 42 x 59.4 cm*

Echoes of Kinship

The Eland moves through the wild with the wisdom of the ages. The stride of the Emu is a dance of resilience and it walks among the stars. //Kaggen The Mantis is a master of stillness.

The Ostrich embraces the paradox of wings that cannot fly. In Indigenous folklore the animals teach, they inspire and they have equal agency over the earth. In the night sky we see the echoes of our connection to the earth and its creatures.

In Southern Africa mythology the Seven Sisters, also known as the Pleiades, marks the start of the ploughing season. The cluster is seen by some as a group of elders telling stories around the fireside or women fleeing an angry hunter, just as it is in Australia. Another story says it is a bag of ostrich eggs, left behind by an angry hunter who failed to shoot a zebra. His wife forbade him to return home empty handed and so his discarded arrow and the seven eggs remain in the sky. Winter is coming when the Seven Sisters are low on the horizon and just before these stars disappear from the Southern skies. When Pleiades returns it is time to prepare the fields.

Among the Hessequa people of the Khoekhoe First Nations there is story of how mothers would take their newborn babies to a high place and lift them up to meet the Seven Sisters when it reappeared. There was dancing and singing and prayers for a bountiful season.

Figures painted on an Ostrich egg. — Caption of image:
**Garth Erasmus**
*Ostrich egg*
In South Africa ostrich eggs are an important, almost spiritual, component of Indigenous folk art. It is used decoratively being painted or carved with Bushman imagery. The strong shell is also chipped and the pieces fashioned to make jewellery.

Emu of the Sky painted on an emu egg. — Caption of image:
**Leeann Kelly-Pedersen**
*Emu egg*
The Emu in the Sky can be seen in the Milky Way on a clear night.
You see it in the dark parts of the Milky Way. Aboriginal people
use this constellation to tell us when it’s time to hunt for emu eggs.
When the Emu looks low this is the time to go egg hunting.
We eat the emu egg and cook it in many different ways.
The emu egg cake is a favourite.

Pleiades painted on an emu egg. — Caption of image:
**Leeann Kelly-Pedersen**
*Emu egg*
Nyarluwarri, the Seven Sisters, or the star cluster Pleiades in the constellation Taurus. The Yamaji People of the Mid-West region of Western Australia know that when Nyarluwarri sits low on the horizon at sunset it means the emus have laid their eggs. The brightness of Nyarluwarri also helps Yamaji People to predict rain.

Milky Way painted on an emu egg. — Caption of image:
**Gail Rose Simpson**
*Emu egg*
Looking outside at night and you will find the Seven Sisters, the Three Kings and the Milky Way in the beautiful dark skies of Wajarri Country.

Painting of the Emu in the Sky in the centre with planets in different colours to the left and a flower to the right. — Caption of image:
**Emu in the Sky - Vanessa Kelly**
*Acrylic on canvas - 125 x 120 cm*
The Emu in the Sky can be seen in the Milky Way on a clear night. You will see it in the dark parts of the Milky Way. Aboriginal people use the feature to tell us when it is time to hunt. When the Emu looks low it is the time to go egg hunting. The emu egg cake is a favourite.

The Emu in the Sky overlaid with the Seven Sisters represented by 7 concentric circles in blue. — Caption of image:
**Emu in the Milky Way - Susan Merry**
*Acrylic on canvas - 75 x 60 cm*
The Emu in the sky in the Milky Way and the Seven Sisters shining brightly.

Emu in the Sky in grey and in front of an orange cloud stretching from left to right. Above the Emu floats a pink galaxy. — Caption of image:
**Emu in the Sky - Leeann Kelly-Pedersen**
*Acrylic on Canvas 65 x 110 cm*
Elders sitting around a campfire yarning and teaching the young children about Dreamtime stories of the sky and stars. All planets are in the painting, also the Seven Sisters. The Southern Cross and the moon up in the corner. The painting is about the Milky Way as well, with the Emu in the Milky Way. Elders explain that when the emu is standing it is roaming, and when it is laying down it is emu egg season. This tells us when to go hunting.

A road going into the distance. An anatomical drawing of a meerkat stands on the left and three meerkats on the right of the road. — Caption of image:
**The Meerkat - Brayton Vyver**
*Acrylic on paper - 30 x 40 cm*
This is for people that don’t know how the inside of the meerkat works.
The South African MeerKAT radio telescope is a precursor to
the SKA Observatory.
I am a 17-year-old Grade 11 learner. I like to talk less and do more
but with that said, I’m a pretty quiet guy. I like to play video games.

Night landscape of an eland between trees with the full moon and stars overhead. — Caption of image:
**The Eland - Hendreas Vaalbooi**
*Oil on canvas - 21 x 30 cm*
The Eland is a sacred animal that reflects the peace and calm of the night. It is sacred because the female will run with her calf only for a while. When her baby is tired, she will shield it with her body, standing with her legs spread out above the young calf, and tears flow from her eyes. Who can shoot such an animal? In just the same way, Mother Nature stands over us protectively.

Painting of a mantis in thin black lines. — Caption of image:
**Mantis Mother - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on Paper - 42 x 60 cm*

Painting of two mantis looking at each other. Their bodies are painted in black and are surrounded by a halo in orange. — Caption of image:
**Mantis Meeting - Pierre Cloete, Cherman Dollies & Brayton Vyver**
*Acrylic on paper - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of two ostriches in black lines. — Caption of image:
**Ostrich Dance - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on paper - 42 x 60 cm*

Painting of an Eland in a landscape in black lines. — Caption of image:
**Eland’s Eyes - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on paper - 21 x 30 cm*

Descendants Of An Ancient Star

The Great Star !Gaunu falls in love with a young flower and asks his Sister, one of the most beautiful of all the flowers in the heavens for assistance. The flower that he loves will not open. His sister comes to his aid and the young flower blooms. The Great Star !Gaunu is so happy he begins to sing. He urges his sister to sing along with him. As they sing, flowers of unparalleled beauty open on the earth, one by one. In the realm below, the /Xam women take up his song and the veldkos (bush tucker) ripens. And so it is that every year the Great Star !Gaunu, his beloved and his sister sing the opening of the flowers with a love song. The veld comes alive with blossoms and food that cannot be found anywhere else on earth.

We are the leaves and branches of an Ancient Tree, itself descended from the Sky Mother, the Moon Father and their Star
Children. The leaves, the tree and the heavens all bound together by love.

Author of quote:Hendreas Vaalbooiartist

Painting of a tree in front of the full moon. — Caption of image:
**Descendants of An Ancient Tree - Hendreas Vaalbooi**
*Mixed media - 21 x 30 cm*
We are the leaves and branches of an Ancient Tree, itself descended from the Sky Mother, the Moon Father and their Star Children. The leaves, the tree and the Heavens all bound together by love.

Painting of a person walking. — Caption of image:
**Song of the Hunt Callers - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on paper - 42 x 60 cm*

Painting of a person with a bow in nature. — Caption of image:
**Song of the Hunt Callers - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on paper - 42 x 60 cm*

Painting of telescopes under a starry sky — Caption of image:
**Pointer Star of the Khoe - Tylor Mouers**
*Acrylic on paper - 30 x 42 cm*
Our people the KhoeSan used the stars to find their way around at night.
Now they are building telescopes under the same skies our Ancestors
knew so well. I’m a Grade 10 learner and I like to play soccer.

Painting of a landscape in the Karoo with clear blue skies. — Caption of image:
**Secrets of the Khoe - Je-dewaan Jann**
*Acrylic on Paper - 30 x 42 cm*
There are bright secrets in the Karoo mountains where
the SKA is building their telescopes.
My name is Je-dewaan Jann. I am in Grade 10 and
I play soccer. I don’t socialise much.

Painting of an animal against a colourful background. Surrounding the larger animal are small stick figures of hunters. — Caption of image:
**The Hunt - Pierre Cloete & Je-dewaan ‘Jordan’ Jann**
*Acrylic on paper - 42 x 50 cm*

Painting of a landscape with four streaks of light in a wave-like motion. — Caption of image:
**Stories from the Outlands - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on cardboard - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of a person next to a campfire with a tree to the left. — Caption of image:
**Stories from the Outlands - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on cardboard - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of a purple landscape with the moon rising. — Caption of image:
**Stories from the Outlands - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on cardboard - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of a landscape through reeds with the sun setting in the distance. — Caption of image:
**Stories from the Outlands - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on cardboard - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of a landscape with a tree and an eland during a sunrise. — Caption of image:
**Stories from the Outlands - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on cardboard - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of a landscape. A person looks at the sun setting over the sea. — Caption of image:
**Stories from the Outlands - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on cardboard - 30 x 42 cm*

Painting of two figures dancing around a campfire. — Caption of image:
**Trance Dance - Cherman Dollies**
*Acrylic on paper - 30 x 42 cm*
Our people the Khoe and the San used to dance when people were sick
and communicate with the stars. We made music with stones and left art
on the rocks that has lasted thousands of years. I’m an 18-year-old
recent Grade 12 graduate from Victoria West in the Karoo. I do portraits
for my people in my free time. I started my journey when I was seven
years old, always wanting to draw something. That’s when I realised
my passion was art .

Cotton Eggs and Pears

Printed cotton sheet showing egg-shapes in rows and columns in the colours blue and green. — Caption of image:
**Emu Eggs Nesting - Mauretta Drage**
*Printed Cotton - 4 x 1.2 m*
Emu eggs are collected and eaten by the people of Australia.
The eggs are found on nests of twigs and branches,
hidden inside thick bush. The eggshells are a beautiful
blue-green colour and give many shades, all the way to white,
when carved to make artwork.

Printed cotton sheet showing oval shapes representing woody pears in brown colours. — Caption of image:
**Woody Pears - Mauretta Drage**
*Printed Cotton - 4 x 1.2 m*
The Woody Pear is an important bush food for the Nhanda
and Wajarri people in the Mid-West region of Western Australia.
The oval shapes in this work show the Woody Pear with its
oblong leaves. The fruit is gathered and eaten when it’s green,
in the spring. As it dries and goes brown, the woody pear drops
its seeds. The leaves, seeds and fruit are seen in this artwork.

The |Xau of Now

In the extinct /Xam language of the Bushman people, |XAU means to go on a magical expedition or shoot with a magical arrow. In international trading, XAU is also the currency symbol for gold. Tumbling around in the maelstrom of the modern world, in search of what we have lost, we need to find those magical arrows. We need to find The |Xau of Now to restore our relationship with the earth and sky and the divine within. Only then will we begin to heal what has been destroyed without and within.

Portrait painting of Kabbo. — Caption of image:
**//Kabbo The Visionary - Pierre Cloete**
*Acrylic on canvas - 160 x 150 cm*
He had a vision that he could save his people. And so in 1870, //Kabbo /Uhiddoro Jantjie Tooren, a pipe-smoking revolutionary Bushman hunter driven by his need to safeguard his fragile culture walked for hundreds of miles. With his land stolen, his people under attack and his language threatened, he went on a Quest to save the people’s most valuable possession, their stories.
He saw in a dream that he would find experts who could preserve his precious knowledge in books. The result is an archive recorded over a thousand days and nights and entered into the *UNESCO Memory of the World Register.*

Portrait painting of Dr Katrina Esau surrounded by a polaroid image of a telescope dish, a meerkat and a partial inscription: “living link... and a language... are losing" — Caption of image:
**Children of the San XI: My Ma Se Taal - Junior Oliphant**
*Acrylic on canvas - 150 x 150 cm*
Dr Katrina Esau is an icon of the Northern Cape. The last remaining speaker of the First Nations N/uu language. The Karoo is a nature reserve for star gazers. My painting preserves the legacy of Ouma Katrina and celebrates her vision. A language has a whole culture embedded in it. The SKA technology is in search of the messages written in the stars while we are losing our languages that were repositories of riches the scientists wish to explore.

Painting of campfire in the sky with figures dancing around it, below are three telescope dishes pointing towards it. — Caption of image:
**The |Xau of Now - Terence Visagie**
*Acrylic on canvas - 150 x 150 cm*

Cosmic Sisterhood

The Feminine Divine is a prominent aspect of ancient spirituality worldwide. Women are seen as central figures in the spiritual and natural order. These female artists tap into the essence of star stories.