Forgotten Heritage~Fishing
An art series with an African and American history theme.
An aura permeates the room where Augie N'Kele's art stands. Life seems to emanate from the artist's wire sculptures that depict an impassioned story...Norma Wade, Dallas Morning News
N'Kele is a contemporary American artist who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa (formerly Zaire.) He begins his perspective with works representing various aspects of everyday life in Africa.
There are 8000 navigable miles of waterways in the Congo basin. Fishing is a major food source. N'Kele was surprised and delighted to learn fishing tools dating back 80,000 years have reportedly been found in Congo in recent times.
Click on Photos to Enlarge
Fishing
2005
Etching on painted aluminum
28 x 68.5 inches
Made from bone, the tools may have come from a stone age fishing camp where early humans speared spawning giant catfish on the banks of a lake between Congo and Uganda. The implements show tool making skills that, until now, have been credited only to Europeans who lived thousands of years later, Brooks said.
In a 2001 correspondence with Forgotten Heritage, Brooks said that more recent work has confirmed these previously published dates.
"...our (tools) are in bone (we also have some very crude stone tools along with the bone ones) -- I would say "double-pointed bone implements"...We...have a kind of knife or dagger-shaped pointed bone tool without barbs, and also a cylindrical double-pointed bone tool without barbs."
Brooks published a paper in the Journal of Human Evolution, arguing that the transition to modern human BEHAVIOR happened in Africa before it occurred anywhere else.
There are other sites with early bone tools, most importantly the site of Blombos Cave in South Africa. (National Geographic Magazine, July, 2000)
Steve Kuhn, a specialist in Ancient tools at the University of Arizona, said, the African implements came from "much earlier than any of us expected."
Spear Fishermen
1993, Aluminum
17 x 70 x 7 inches
Portfolio # 48
Fishermen carve dugout boats from logs as they have done for countless centuries. They display an uncommon grace and agility as they maneuver across swift moving and often treacherous rivers. The Congo River has more than 1000 species of fish. The nkamba, weighs up to 300 pounds and is strong enough to tow a boat with fishermen aboard.
Two Women In River II
H.17 W.25 D.11 inches
Wire, Gutter Guard, Window Screen
1996 P#168
Women wade into the fast moving river and scoop up fish up with cone shaped traps made of vines. They toss their catch into the basket balanced on their head.
A web search for "Blombos Cave" will provide links to news stories about discoveries about early African development
Man with Fish Trap
Wagenia Fishermen
Wire, Aluminum, Found, 1995
40x30x36", Portfolio # 140
Ink Drawing on Paper
"There has been quite a bit of new information in the past 5-6 years coming out of south Africa in particular. It now seems that many aspects of sophisticated human behavior, including "art", personal adornment, and fancy weapons, appeared in Africa 10's of thousands of years before they cropped up anywhere else. A web search on Blombos Cave will provide you with links to some of the media coverage."
Steven L. Kuhn
Professor
Co-Director of Graduate Studies, Dept. of Anthropology
University of Arizona, Tucson, April, 2008
Selections from Forgotten Heritage are available for exhibit at museums, art centers, galleries, schools and universities