A Portrait of Memory and Ritual

Herero Eldest

The artwork Herero Eldest is a striking 71 x 71 cm mixed-media piece on canvas that offers a powerful and complex portrait of a Himba elder. The work, based on a photograph the artist took during a journey to a burial site in Namibia, transcends simple representation to explore themes of tradition, mortality, and the intersection of ancient customs with a modern aesthetic. The title, while referring to the Herero, evokes a broader reverence for an elder figure who holds the memory and rituals of his people.

The artist’s use of psychedelic colors creates a surreal landscape, where the dusty terrain of Namibia is transformed into a vibrant backdrop of reds, yellows, and purples. This deliberate choice is a visual metaphor for the clash and harmony between different realities: the tangible, grounded life of the elder and the artist’s own perspective shaped by a modern, digital world. The application of acrylics and digital manipulation gives the canvas a textural quality that mirrors the elder’s weathered face and the “worn” nature of his suit, suggesting a life lived with history and purpose.

The prominent QR codes are not just a stylistic element; they are a key part of the artwork’s conceptual framework. They represent a data-driven world that seems alien to the Himba’s ancestral practices. By juxtaposing these symbols of modern technology with the elder’s dignified presence, the artist creates a tension that invites viewers to contemplate the vulnerability of traditional cultures in a globalized era. The artist’s account of the visit, the rituals of placing sand in the mouth and the discussion of initiation rites, adds layers of profound meaning, highlighting a way of life that is rich in ceremony but also susceptible to being misunderstood or lost.

Herero Eldest is more than a mere portrait. It is an exploration of the sacredness of memory and ritual. The knocked-out teeth, a sign of initiation and adulthood, are a visible testament to a life lived in accordance with tradition, a life that is both beautiful and challenging. The artwork acts as a bridge between two worlds, urging us to acknowledge the inherent wisdom and dignity of indigenous peoples and the need to protect their unique ways of life from disappearing.

A Cemetery Visit

Although Dew, our local guide, doubted we would stumble upon a funeral, he suggested a visit to the elders’ burial site instead. He arranged for us to meet the village elder at the shop – and, at Dew’s insistence, we bought the old man a beer, which of course we did. Dressed in his finest black suit, weathered and worn much like himself, he joined us.

We drove out of town, then walked half a kilometer to the burial grounds. Only a few graves were clearly visible, but traces of many more lay hidden beneath the drifting sand.

The Elder generously shared the Himba traditions: When a Himba soul departs, there is a ceremony filled with song, drumming, and cattle offerings. The body is buried near the family home so the spirit can guide the living. Smoke from the fire carries messages between worlds, weaving pride and sorrow together in a ritual farewell. For the Himba, life and death are inseparable, and reverence for the ancestors is at the very heart of existence.

Here in Puros, a special graveside ritual is performed: one places a pinch of sand in the mouth, then blows it out again. Symbolic and powerful, acknowledging the cycle of life, “from dust you came, to dust you shall return.” By blowing the sand out, respect and humility are shown to the spirits. Following the Elder’s instructions, I did the ritual. He then declared the spirits satisfied, and we were allowed a closer look at the simple stone-marked graves.

He also explained other rites: for instance, initiation into adulthood sometimes involves knocking out the front teeth, both upper and lower. To my surprise, he mentioned that he himself was circumcised. I had thought of that practice as belonging to the Abrahamic faiths of the Middle East, not to animists in the desert. He noticed my astonishment and asked if I wanted proof. I politely declined with a strained smile. (All of this, of course, was translated by Dew, who proved to be quite a capable interpreter.)

The Indigenous Project

For many years, I have journeyed across the world in search of tribes whose lives unfold at the margins of modernity. I have met them, shared moments in their presence, and recorded fragments of their cultures through the lens of my camera. These encounters became short films and photographs, though what I could share publicly was often pared down, restrained by the conventions of media platforms that recoil at the sight of the human body as it exists beyond Western norms.

The Indigenous Project is my attempt to move beyond those limitations. Here, the stories and photographs are not confined to the silence of censorship but are reimagined through visualization, digital transformations of my original images, touched only lightly with the paintbrush. They are not paintings in the traditional sense, but hybrid works: photographs reborn with artistic intention.

Rather than whisper quietly from a museum wall, these works take on the voice of advertising. They carry themselves like billboards on a highway, loud, direct, unafraid. They do not seek subtlety but insistence, calling out to the public about the existence of these tribes. They echo the urgency of survival, the need to be seen, the struggle not to vanish unnoticed into the background of the modern world.

The peoples I have visited live at the farthest edge of the present, caught between the continuity of tradition and the intrusions of global modernity. They adapt, resist, and reinvent, some finding tenuous stability in the currents of cultural tourism, others holding fast to older ways. My hope is that these visualizations, bold and insistent, will amplify their presence, carrying fragments of their realities into spaces where recognition matters.

The project is envisioned as a constellation of five large-scale works, each 150 x 150 cm, accompanied by fifteen smaller works of 72 x 72 cm. Together, they form a chorus, urgent, vivid, and impossible to ignore.

Each piece also contains an interactive element. Embedded within the imagery are QR codes, seamlessly woven into the visual fabric of the work. When scanned by a cell phone, these codes lead the spectator to a dedicated website, offering deeper context: the background of the Indigenous Project as a whole and the particular story behind the artwork in question. In this way, the pieces extend beyond the gallery wall, creating a dialogue that flows into the digital sphere, where more layers of history and meaning unfold.

But there is yet another dimension, more hidden. Under UV light, a clandestine layer of the works reveals itself, marks and impressions invisible under normal conditions, transforming the surface into something entirely new. This duality allows the works to live two lives: one visible, brash, and billboard-bright; the other secretive, spectral, and only accessible to those willing to look beyond the obvious.

In the end, these works are both messages and messengers: fierce signals flaring against forgetfulness, calling attention to worlds at risk of erasure. They do not apologize, they do not conceal, they shout, they insist, they demand to be seen.