30/05/2021
One of the Artworks submitted for our exhibition ‘Coming Home’ the return of the Cape Vulture to the Karoo
Ecologist Rona van der Merwe from a farm in the Calvinia region embroidered her artwork onto this hessian sack
Weaved in a forgotten history, Embroidered merino and mohair wool on antique hessian sack, 100 x 60 cm R 32 800
Cape vulture, Gyps coprotheres, now a forgotten sighting throughout large areas of our land, historically occurred widely throughout the Karoo. Since the early 1800’s when white settlers first started farming the Karoo landscape, there has been an on-going war between man and ‘problem animal’, as undoubtedly vultures were classified. The decimation of Karoo fauna over centuries has had devastating effects on a once balanced and thriving ecosystem, hence species such as the Cape vulture, with a highly specialised ecosystem apex role, was bound to disappear. Wool, mohair and an antique (probably dating from the first half of the 20th century) hessian sack that was historically used to transport animal feed (now replaced with plastic) symbolises the role of a once booming farming industry in the disappearance of an utterly unique and important species. We realise that there is always a cost, always something lost. May environmental, existential and inherent value never again be brushed off as mere economic externalities.
