Issue
The San in Namibia, 2% of the population, are today the most disadvantaged of all language groups due to lack of education, landlessness, unemployment and social stigmatisation. Forced into urban fringes or resettlement farms, their centuries-old cultural knowledge is being lost.
How we are helping
The grant will build on the arts programme started by Omba Arts Trust in 2002 with rural San communities, providing an opportunity to discover new artistic talent in the San resettlement farms of Skoonheid and Donkerbos while building on the skills of the current artists.
About the project
Four different ethnic San groups, Ju/’hoansi, Hei/omn, !Xung and Khwe, will engage in a series of art workshops which will culminate in an exhibition of the finest art works in the National Gallery of Namibia. The project will allow Omba Arts Trust to regain the momentum lost following the disruptive Covid epidemic that followed the first exhibition of contemporary San art ‘Roots of the First Tree’, held in the National Gallery in 2019. It will also provide more opportunities to expand the new Art-i-San San textile range that Omba Arts launched in 2022 providing additional income from royalties.
Furthermore, the project will transfer technical skills and introduce talented San artists to the global arts industry. Allowing artists to discover a personal inner language of visual symbols that they can express through art materials and practices, will create an invaluable cultural asset for both the San community and Namibia.
Project Partners
Omba Arts Trust is an independent Namibian non-profit organisation which has made a measurable difference to the lives of hundreds of Namibians over the course of more than 30 years – artisans, artists, and their families. It has grown into being not only a vehicle for delivering operational support to rural artisans and giving them an entry point into global markets, but also a conduit for delivering opportunities to further improve their sense of agency and well-being.
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