Nthlantle Botswana VIII

This painting is part of a series of landscape ink paintings about the sacred sites of South Eastern Botswana. Nthlantle means "In the Direction of Beauty".

In this series I continue my work with sense of place by creating veld studies and landscape paintings of South Eastern Botswana. My connection to Botswana is a romantic one, as my partner, Colin Campbell, spent his childhood communing and connecting with the natural world as he accompanied his father Alec Campbell, on various anthropological trips throughout the country.

The paintings originate from visits which were guided by Colin and his brother Niall, who are both locally-trained African medicine doctors. My encounters are infused by traditional stories and nostalgic memories shared by my guides about each place and their sadness around the rapidly disappearing natural and cultural heritage of Botswana. The brothers and I communed with the sacred hill at Manyelanung, the rainmaking Modipe Hill and the birthplace of humans at Matsieng. We watched the moon rise as the setting sun stretched our shadows at Mogonye. We visited Fikeng, Kolobeng and we encountered the beautiful place of Ntlhantle during an unfolding dusk.

My idea with this series of landscape paintings is to simply share my experience of the sites I visited with the people of Botswana, hoping that my viewers will recognize some sense of the spirit of these 'Ntlhantle: In the Direction of Beauty' is a tribute to these special places.