Article: Painting is in my blood The San Culture & Education Centre

Painting is in my blood

I was born in Upington and grew up in Rietfontein. We are eight children in the family. Now I am twenty-eight years old and have one girl of my own. I belong to the ‡Khomani San of the southern part of the Kalahari, near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

I attended the Rietfontein Combined School. When I was about seven years old, I began to draw. I drew people and many things I saw in nature. I began to draw on paper which I got from my elder brothers and sisters. I drew with crayons, pencil and coal from the fire. To draw is something which is in my blood. When I began drawing my pictures did maybe not look too good for others, but for me they were beautiful.

When I was in grade four, my teacher asked me what I wanted to become. I answered immediately: “I want to be an artist.” The other children in my class laughed at me, because they thought I made a joke. Many of them wanted to become doctors and policemen and they did not understand that I was interested in drawing what I saw in nature and wanted to become an artist.

After I left school in grade ten, I went back to my people’s land, which the government had given back to us in 1999. There I met a woman with the name of Betta. She is also an artist and taught me how to paint on canvas and also to work with clay. Since then, I had drawn on paper, flat wood and stones with ochre which I got from my pa. When I began to paint on canvas it felt like I was coming home, like something I really wanted became true. Working with oil paint and canvas made me feel like a real artist.

I began painting from the morning until twelve o’clock at night at my girlfriend’s one-room flat where we had electricity. It was not too much for me because to work with things I could feel and form filled me with joy. Once again I stood at the road to the Kalahari Transfrontier Park and tried to sell my rock art-style paintings and clay sculptures to the passing tourists.

Then in November 2009, I came to !Khwa ttu to attend the training programme for trainee guides. After about four months I met Martin, an artist who paints a lot of birds. He helped me to get canvas, paint and other material so that I could go on with my paintings. In my spare time I paint. My paintings have a lot to do with rock art, the stories of my people. A few weeks ago, I got the chance to sell my paintings at the !Khwa ttu craft shop and I have already sold one.

I still want to become a tour guide but I will always draw in my spare time, because this is in my blood and I am really proud of what I can do.

Hendreas Vaalbooi, trainee guide and ‡Khomani man from the southern Kalahari, South Africa