david korte photographs

Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa

The San people of southern Africa have created a profound collection of rock paintings.  At least 15,000 sites are known in South Africa, many of them hidden among rock shelters in the Drakensberg Mountains, a range extending northward between Durban and Johannesburg in the heart of the Kwazulu-Natal.

The paintings are thought to depict a ritualized interaction between the material and spirit world of San culture. Some of the artwork dates back 27,000 years (Namibia) and others from recent centuries.

By entering a state of trance, Shamans tap into a spiritual world where they harness the power to affect weather, heal sickness, and control the movements of animals.  Lasting all night, intense dancing to a rhythm of clapping and drumming induces these trance episodes.  The rock paintings present a Shaman’s privileged interpretation of the trance dance and the spirit world to which they are transported.