KZN Museum Researchers Present at Prestigious Global Archaeology Conference

Dr Justine Wintjes and Dr Ghilraen Laue, together with Anton Coetzee from the Origins Centre, recently presented at the World Archaeological Congress (WAC) in Australia, the world’s leading archaeology conference, held every four years.

Their paper, “The Hand of Masitise: Exploring the Life of a Painter through Two Rock Art Sites in Southeastern Lesotho”, examines the life and work of Masitise, a Phuthi man who created remarkable rock art in the 1920s and 30s. Through digital analysis, the team explores how Masitise blended Bushman traditions with personal expression, offering a rare biographical lens into rock art and the artist behind it.

The paper was part of a session focused on rock art and biographical perspectives, exploring how individual lives can be traced and understood through rock art traditions across the world.

Dr Ghilraen Laue pictured delivery her paper 

 

 

 

PAPER TITLE: The hand of Masitise: exploring the life of a painter through two rock art sites in southeastern Lesotho

Justine Wintjes, KwaZulu-Natal Museum, South Africa
Ghilraen Laue, KwaZulu-Natal Museum, South Africa; Rock Art Research Institute, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Anton Coetzee Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

ABSTRACT:

By the early twentieth century in the mountain highlands of what is now Lesotho, few if any Bushmen (San) lived as hunter-gatherers in independent communities. Most had come to live under the protection of Sotho or Phuthi chiefs. In 1932, Masitise, a Phuthi man, created some ‘Bushman paintings’ on the veranda walls of the Quthing Residence at the request of Marion How, wife of the District Commissioner. The majority of the imagery refers to a battle scene between two Bushman chiefs, Soai and Mphaki. Other imagery includes eland, a snake and an imaginary figure Masitise described as a mythical beast. Similar imagery occurs in a rock shelter half a km from the residence, reportedly painted in 1929. We use digital enhancement and visual analysis to reveal stylistic and iconographical similarities, and to argue that the two sets of figures may have been products of the same hand. This small body of work provides a glimpse into the life of Masitise. Taking inspiration from the Bushman tradition and finding his way in a new world order, Masitise combined realism and ambiguity in a distinctive expression, establishing a unique position for himself as an artist crossing boundaries and working ‘in-between’.

Abstract of the session they presented in:

T05/Session 06: Rock Art and Biographical Perspectives
FORMAT: PAPER PRESENTATIONS WITH DISCUSSION
Chairs: Assoc. Prof. Sally K. May, University of Adelaide, Australia
Joakim Goldhahn, University of Adelaide, Australia; adjunct Linnaeus University, Sweden

Biographical perspectives on rock art can be found interwoven within rock art studies globally. By offering an alternative approach to  interpreting rock art, a biographical perspective invites us to analyse the details of an individual’s life and background to understand how these experiences may have shaped their artistic expression and vice versa – how creating rock art may have impacted their life. In rare and remarkable instances, we know the names of individual rock art artists and can piece together historical accounts to explore their legacies. In other cases, we can identify individuals as creators of rock art across varying time depths, though their names remain unknown to us. Similarly, some burial monuments adorned with rock art have been argued to reflect the deceased’s life. In this session, we challenge presenters to reflect on how rock art can also be biographical – offering insights into the lives of specific artists and others, and/or offering a biographical perspective on rock art places and motifs.

 

WAC is a uniquely representative non-profit organization of worldwide archaeology that recognizes the historical and social role, and the political context, of archaeology, and the need to make archaeological studies relevant to the wider community (https://worldarchaeologicalcongress.com/). WAC, the world’s most prestigious archaeology conference, is held every 4 years. WAC 4 was held in Cape Town in 1999 with Mr Nelson Mandela as its Patron.