Once, Outside !Nami#Nus/Lüderitz, 2013 [Detail]

Shark Island and Its Hinterland

As a physical vestige of colonial history, Shark Island has a distinctly sinister quality. The site of a prisoner-of-war camp during the Genocide of 1904—1908 committed by the German colonial force against the OvaHerero and Nama, Shark Island’s historical meaning is matched by its wind-blown barrenness and rugged, stony landscape. It is a place where no human could survive for long.

In her definitive work on the history of Namibia, Marion Wallace writes that, ‘Things were particularly bad in the Lüderitz district, where the notorious Shark Island was situated, and where the most extreme effects of the concentration camp policy were felt. Herero prisoners began to arrive at the beginning of 1905. Nama prisoners were sent to the island from September 1906 onwards.’

An Inventory of Remnants, Diaz Point, 2013.

The wooden bridge shown here in 2013 leads from the replica Diaz Cross on a rock pinnacle overlooking the sea to the shore. It has since been washed away. The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Diaz landed here at Angra Pequena, the present-day !Nami#Nus / Lüderitz, Namibia, in 1487. Archaeological findings show that long before the first Europeans arrived on the Namibian coast, the Khoisan already knew the area. Herero and Nama prisoners were kept in the vicinity at Shark Island during the German-Namibian War of 1904—1908.

Archival Pigment Print | Edition of 3 + 2 AP | 90 × 60 cm

Desert Storm, en route to !Nami≠nüs/Lüderitz, Namibia, 2012
Archival Pigment Print | Edition of 3 + 2 AP + 2 MP | 91,5 × 62,5 cm

Suid-Wes Kaffee, !Nami#nus / Lüderitz, August 2011

Shark Island and its Hinterland, !Nami#Nus/Lüderitz, 2012
Archival Pigment Print | Edition of 3 + 1 AP | 55 × 75 cm

The Earth Inside, !Nami#Nus / Lüderitz, 2013 [Detail]
Triptych | Archival Pigment Print | 64 × 45.3 cm each

Counter-narratives, Diaz Point, 2013
Archival Pigment Print | Edition of 5 + 2 AP | 90.5 × 64.5 cm

Diaz Point, ǃNamiǂNûs / Lüderitz, September 2013

Shark Island and its Hinterland, !Nami#Nus/Lüderitz, 2012
Archival Pigment Print | Edition of 3 + 1 AP | 75 × 55 cm

The Earth Inside, !Nami#Nus / Lüderitz, 2013

These mounds mark prisoner-of-war graves outside !Nami#Nus / Lüderitz. Nama and Herero prisoners who died on Shark Island, or from exhaustion working on the railroad, were buried here. The graves lie directly next to the newly developed rail track and dirt road. They remain anonymous and unmarked.