After I interviewed the shamans, chiefs, elders, storytellers and witch doctors, I asked them to draw the spirits, ancestors or God they described to me.
Often the entire village came out to watch the drawing. Such was the case in a tiny Himba village of Onganga, when I asked Kaunyanunwa Tjambiru, the local medicine man, to do a drawing of what he saw during his trance induced by chanting while looking into a reflective surface.
This was the first time he had ever held a pencil his hand. He wasn't quite sure which hand to use.
His tiny drawing is the next image.
Himba Tribe
Onganga village, Kunene region
Namibia, Africa
Holding a pencil for the first time in his life, Kaunyanunwa Tjambiru, medicine man of Onganga village, carefully drew this image when I asked him what he saw during a trance.
The image reminds me of a late Kandansky painting. I suspect those are mountains and clouds above a human figure. The single line erupting from the jagged line is probably a spirit. But your guess is as good as mine.
Himba Tribe
Onganga village, Kunene region
Namibia, Africa
After I interviewed the shamans, chiefs, elders, storytellers and witch doctors, I asked them to draw the spirits, ancestors or God they described to me.
Often the entire village came out to watch the drawing. Such was the case in a tiny Himba village of Onganga, when I asked Kaunyanunwa Tjambiru, the local medicine man, to do a drawing of what he saw during his trance induced by chanting while looking into a reflective surface.
This was the first time he had ever held a pencil his hand. He wasn't quite sure which hand to use.
His tiny drawing is the next image.
Himba Tribe
Onganga village, Kunene region
Namibia, Africa
Holding a pencil for the first time in his life, Kaunyanunwa Tjambiru, medicine man of Onganga village, carefully drew this image when I asked him what he saw during a trance.
The image reminds me of a late Kandansky painting. I suspect those are mountains and clouds above a human figure. The single line erupting from the jagged line is probably a spirit. But your guess is as good as mine.
Himba Tribe
Onganga village, Kunene region
Namibia, Africa