Tag Archives: desert

Secret ingredients for making rain…

Ok, I have decided to share my secret list of ingredients for making rain with you .

When we wish to manifest a different reality in our lives, we must firstly set a clear intention. Then we need to put the energy closest linked to that state into a creative act – such as art, music, dance or a ritual. Add a huge bucket of trust and stir in hands-full of patience. Regularly add generous amounts of gratitude and sprinkle with as much fun and creativity as you can find. Decorate with light-heartedness and celebration.

As you might have guessed, this is an update on my last post “Waiting for rain” and you are probably curious to hear if my little rainmaker was successful.

After I made my ‘little rainmaker’ and writing about it in my last post, nothing much happened for a few days. And I started to get doubts. Maybe the rainmaker was too small? Or maybe the stone which I selected, was wrong – after all, it came from the Namib desert, a place which seldom sees rain. Maybe it just had forgotten the feeling of rain? So just to be absolutely sure, I decided to remind the stone and myself of the feeling of water, by making it stand in water, and refilling the water every day, saying my thanks to nature.

There was some rain on the 4th of February, but not much. Just enough that I decided to re-draw the cloud image and rain drops on the stone, as the image has been washed away a little bit. Through doing so, I reaffirmed my gratitude for every little drop of rain that we are getting.

All the time I regularly thought about our believes and superstitions surrounding rain. As kids we were told that eating up your food would allow it to rain and I still say that to friends when they are over for dinner. In Namibia we also say that you must not run to take down the washing from the line, when the first drops fall, as this will surely chase away the rain…

So when the first drops appeared I rather took a picture of my washing and the drops, happy about every little bit of moisture and not worry about it getting wet. Quietly celebrating each one of the few drops which our sky managed to squeeze out of the promising clouds. Even if once again, the drops stopped coming soon after they started… (Note to self: the washing believe does not seem to hold water in either a literal or figurative way. )

Raindrops on my washing

First raindrops on the new rainmaker (7 Feb)

On my birthday, the 7th of February, maybe as a special birthday gift, we had the first real rain. (Another note to self: it really takes a lot of patience, trust and many little prayers of thanks to get it to rain, but eventually it will rain.)

Ok, I acknowledge that I hoped the little rainmaker would bring lots of rain within two or three days. But maybe I just need more practice and more faith. And at least making and nurturing the little rainmaker gave me a sense of being proactive and positive in a time, when many people are starting to be talking about the imminent drought that we might be facing this year with a doomsday face and spreading the fear.

I learned that even if we can (and should be able to) influence reality with the right intentions and actions a little bit nature still has a way of following its own rhythms, but it might also be reminding us of some valuable lessons. We have been blessed with several really good rainy seasons and we have started to take water for granted again. We have wasted water, used it without being conscious about our actions or without remembering how very blessed we are and saying thanks.

And even if my little rainmaker has not yet brought Namibia or my garden the wonderful rains which I hoped for, I still have faith that we will also survive this year and this season.And that the rain might still come…

Last, but not least the little rainmaker provided me with regular joy watching the wild animals coming to drink from my installation. In the very first picture is a wild yellow mongoose and below is a red-eyed bird. I do not know the scientific name of the bird, but I happen to know this bird personally, as I had the pleasure to share its life for the past few months. She and her husband have nested in my garden and I could watch them raise their young chick, teaching it to fly and celebrate life.

Red-eyed bird drinking from the rainmaker installation

Screaming for the Namib (Part II)

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After my last post, where I have shared a pretty cool and fun video of my art (inter)action “An infinite scream passing through the Namib“ (Click on the title to be taken to that post if you have missed it), I had a request to post some of the photographs which I took from the participants.

So here is a selection of some of my favorites: (to view the full image, please click on the thumbnail picture)

Makafa Screams by ImkeRust(c)

George Screams (c)ImkeRust

JanDaniel and Niece Scream (c)ImkeRust

Helia Screams (c)ImkeRust

Britta Screams (c)ImkeRust

Isabel Screams (c)ImkeRust

Burkart Screams (c)ImkeRust

Jasoni Screams (c)ImkeRust

Postcard with several ‘screams’ Help Save Our Environment! (c)ImkeRust

During the one hour before sunset we managed to get 18 people (all complete strangers except for my dad) to scream for us, even though they were all ‘silent’ screams.

Don’t these photographs make you feel like joining in the fun and scream?

Encounters in the Namib

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A bird puzzled by my artwork in the desert © Imke Rust (detailed view)

I have spent eight days in the beginning of April in the desert around the coastal town of Swakopmund to make artworks in nature. It is my way to raise awareness about the threats which our environment is facing. And it is my way of taking action. I believe that art is not only an aesthetic experience, but also a powerful and spiritual one. Just like the shamans and healers of the olden days have used drawings, symbols, rituals and objects to heal and change the vibrations of the current reality, I hope that my art can have a positive and healing influence.

The Namib Desert at the Atlantic coast in Namibia is currently under much threat, with uranium mines springing up and growing like fungi, huge chemical plants proposed to be built (who plan to get rid of their toxic waste in the Atlantic ocean) and even Phosphor mining plans on our shores. Not only these big obvious projects are threatening the desert and ocean, but also the thousands of people who mindlessly use the environment as their playground without consideration or awareness of the damage they are doing.

I am happy that more and more people are standing up and making their voices heard for saving our environment and there even being signs and actions from our government which gives us hope that they are not going to sell out our desert. I thought a lot about what I can do for my part, and decided that I stick to what I do best: art. Instead of painting posters against the ‘enemy’ I decided to do things pro nature, make artworks which symbolically protect the land from harm, bless it and celebrate its beauty, while at the same time raising awareness about the threats.

I am busy preparing the documentation of the works for my upcoming exhibition in June in Berlin and want to keep the artworks a surprise till then. Instead I will share with you pictures of some of the meetings we had during the eight days, in which we worked in the desert. Just to show you how alive the desert really is with creatures we often do not even notice. All of these and many, many more depend on our choices for their survival. And our own survival depends on a healthy and alive environment.

Horned Viper taking refuge in a shaded burrow

Although I have much time of my life in the desert, it is the first time that I personally spotted this highly poisonous small snake. A good reminder for me to tread carefully for my own protection and on the other hand I felt sadness, as she was living in an area where sand is mined and I guess it is only a matter of time, before she ends up being killed by the huge machines.

A well camouflaged desert gecko

Another gecko, not as fussed with camouflaging

A lizard who has lost its tail

A very friendly and inquisitive pregnant chameleon

A desert rabbit, sitting very still, in the hope that we do not see it…

A black scorpion – very poisonous (you can tell from the large stingers and small fangs)

These are only some of the animals which we encountered while working in the desert, as I did not always have my camera ready…. I was so amazed to notice just how alive the desert really is.

Oh, and then while marveling at the horned viper, we also encountered some very noisy two-wheeled creatures:

Motorcycles and plastic bags in the desert

I wonder how many of our small new friends they noticed? And how many of them survived the encounter?

If this matter is also close to your heart and you would like to show your support for the environment of the Namib Desert, especially around Swakopmund, please join the Facebook group “Industrial Swakopmund – What Future do we Want?” and stay updated about the latest news and actions.

The art project was funded, in part, through a Grant by the National Arts Council of Namibia (NACN), the opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the Author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the NACN.

Hand-coloured Photographs Making a Powerful Statement

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Chemical Reaction (Namib Desert) © Imke Rust

Recently I have invited you all to come to an exhibition of a selection of photographs which were submitted to the “Our Coast Your Photo” Competition, which was on show in Windhoek and Swakopmund.

Initially I was informed that I was one of the finalists, but then at the opening it turned out that the judges did not think that hand-coloured photographs are photographs but are art, and therefore my works were not considered for the actual prizes. A detailed discussion of this decision would be interesting, considering that hand-colouring photographs is a technique used in photography for almost as long as we have photography itself, but maybe I leave that for another time or for the comments.

For now, I am happy to say that the organizers did think that my work still deserved a “special mention for making a powerful statement. … Rust managed to convey a message of “pretty promises” made by industrialists that paint a pretty picture, while the result would actually be unnatural – and even detrimental to the environment.” (quoted from The Namibian, 2 April 2012, pg7). The special mention came with a small financial prize and a bottle of unpolluted Namibian sea water – which I thought was a very nice touch in line with the background of the exhibition. It might become a rarity soon, but I hope not!

Here are the works which I have submitted for those of you who were not able to see them in person.

Toxic Flow (Swakop River) © Imke Rust, Digital Photograph

About the works:

“My entries are hand-coloured photographs of Swakopmund’s surrounding environment.

The idea came while I was in Berlin and was hearing about the planed chemical works that might be built near Swakopmund. I looked at my photographs of Swakopmund and its surrounding area which I took earlier in the year and wondered what it will look like should the chemical plant be build with all its toxic waste and side effects. I also thought of the “pretty promises” that are made of all the wonderful things (like job creation) such developments would bring Namibians. What at first glance might look pretty and interesting might turn out to be really dangerous, and we are not really aware of how far-reaching the negative effects might be. The colourful interventions on the photographs, give a striking and ‘pretty’ effect, but also allude to the chemical and toxic interference with nature.

We are so used to see really good photographs of the Namibian environment and we often taken our environment for granted. That is why I decided to make some physical and ‘chemical’ interventions in bright and ‘unnatural’ acrylic (plastic) colours to the photographs. I hope this artificial, tampered view, makes people sit up and notice and think about what they are seeing and want to see.”

The exhibition is still up in Swakopmund at “The Art Gallery” in the Brauhaus Arcade till the end of April. According to that gallery it is one of their most visited exhibitions to date. So, if you are in Swakopmund, do take some time to go and see all the finalists work (and mine ) if you enjoy photography, art and our beautiful coast!

Oh, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject: is photography art and is art photography? Should a hand-coloured photograph be judged differently than a photoshopped one, or an 100% untouched one? Let me know what you think…