I enter the Origins Centre -the museum at Wits University, with great anticipation – carrying my Art Harare Art passport as a tangible memory in the making…

An EXHIBITION is opening : “Hold me said the Earth” by Ann Gollifer, curated by Kim Karabo Makin.

‘Hold me said the Earth’ invites us to consider the ways in which our identities are shaped by history, geography, and personal experience. And a huge meshed map of Africa at the entrance to the museum encourages our sense of a geographical exploration – a journey –

Tammy Hodgskiss has created a pathway of discovery in this seductive earthy ‘Origins’ space – and even before I get to the exhibition rooms I am entranced by the displays…

stone tools in Fibonacci spirals…

Earth, Ochre and engraved ostrich shells …

And here is Ann’s own snail shell paint holder- created from a giant African snail shell.

…using shells as I do myself for holding earth pigment, I feel the joy of kindred practices…

-note to self, my love for giant african snail shells hearkens to the Chauke Humba story and the elemental Fibonacci coil of a shell is endlessly inspiring and wonderful to sketch

After musing over the snail shell, I fully enter the amazing elemental space that houses Ann’s ochre earth creations …

Stunning cakes of ochre squat on the concrete floor holding the promise of layered stories within –

At last after years of online chats I get to meet up with lovely Ann herself…

and here is a beautiful team

portrait of Ann with the Guns & Rain Gallery team…

Julie Taylor of Guns & Rain, drawn into the exquisitely fine details ..

Saturated pigments of deeply moving hue draw me in my turn into Ann’s work – handprints, map making, mark making, brushwork…

Here outlined arms and hands on a folded “map” seem to morph into fantastic giraffes…telling their own story

a tree hung with ochre scribed boards sways gently, while a visiting anthropologist views Ann’s art video in the background

Ann Gollifer’s work is a deeply personal history, centred on her use of pigments derived from earth colours found in Botswana,

This is something more than just colour –

this is history, culture, identity…true storytelling..

“Her (Ann’s) art is a call to reflection, urging us to consider our own personal mythologies and how they intersect with the larger narratives of race, gender, and nationality” – Khumo Sebambo.

Reflecting this ongoing story of humankind, I meet charming Dr Tien, anthropologist from Cape Town, and a team of fascinating visiting anthropologists who are attending multiple workshops country wide …

a powerful and moving Exhibition curated by Kim Karabo Makin.

Entertaining and moving presentations ..

– thank you !

shells ochre and synergies – I can not wait to next attend the workshop hosted by ANN and her fellow ochre collaborator MMA MOTSEI NKWEMABALA