The Salt of August. Between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, Namibia, 2012

The Earth Inside

Exhibited at The National Art Gallery of Namibia in 2014
Curated by Vid Simoniti

In The Earth Inside, Nicola Brandt attempts to explore mirror landscapes of physical and mental environments, especially in the light of conflicted personal identities in Namibia. As an artist working in the medium of photography and film in southern Africa, she confronts her own position of what it means to be a Namibian of German European origin.

The photographs in this body of work portray Namibian landscapes as metaphors of trauma, loss and the sacred. Some of these sites mark places of historical violence against the Ovaherero and the Nama people by the German colonizers. Many of these places remain unmarked and living memory alone has preserved their identity.

An installation featuring a room in a Namibian home and a collection of archival images emphasize how images and objects expose particular value systems. The installation reflects on the origin of attitudes that have underpinned the land issue, which was at the heart of the war of 1904 to 1908 and remains unresolved today.

Illuminated, Unrecounted. Diaz Point, Namibia, 2013

Next to the Graves, Swakopmund, 2012

A private residence in Riverside Road, Swakopmund, built directly next to unidentified graves of Herero and Nama prisoners-of-war
who died during the German-Namibian War and Genocide (1904-1908).

The Watch Tower. Uakondjisa Kakuekuee in Swakopmund, 2013

Spectre, 2013

Many have their views,
Many have their judgements,
But do they even know
Her regret, confusion and loss of words.
Only God knows, only God sees.

She is walking in fear
There to face her past, her blood line.
Wondering how she can repay what was done,
Nobody knows how it feels to be identified with an act,
What you know is that it was done.

Even in brutality the inherited dress is sacred.
The love and honour given to it
A safe haven for humanity, not a lion’s den.

~ Jacqueline Tjozongoro

On the Side of Being and Against Nothingness. Ohamakari / Waterberg, 2013. Diptych

The Waterberg area and its mountains are of important historical and cultural significance to the Ovaherero. The large fig trees, some hundreds of years old, are considered sacred. There is a myth that Herero ancestors descended from heaven through the branches of certain trees. The mountain area was also the last major source of underground water before the bushveld gave way to the desolation of the Omaheke. The Ovaherero fled into the Omaheke desert to escape the colonial forces after the battle of Waterberg, causing many to die.

The Fence, Swakopmund, 2013

Arrival, Diaz Point, Namibia, 2013

This site marks the arrival of Bartolomeu Dias at Angra Pequena, the present-day !Nami#Nus / Lüderitz in 1487. Archaeological findings show that long before the first Europeans arrived on the Namibian coast, the Khoisan already knew the area. Legend has it that during Dias’ journey a woman was set ashore on this inhospitable coast to ‘explain the purpose of the visit to the natives’, and that she perished there.

Arrival, Diaz Point, Namibia, 2013 [Detail]

Sturmvogel Bucht, 2013, Diptych

Sturmvogel Bucht was a Norwegian and German whaling station. Documentary photographs show Nazi rallies held here in the 1930s.

Sturmvogel Bucht, 2013, Diptych [Detail]

Courtyard, Katuvangua Migal Maendo in Windhoek, Namibia, 2012

A Collection of Innocent Objects, 2014
Installation at The National Art Gallery, Namibia

You cannot talk about the victim if you cannot talk about the perpetrator. As Jean-Paul Sartre said of colonialism, “Our role is to help it die,” but before we can, we have to realise the extent to which it haunts us. The installation shows a room in a Namibian home, with picturesque landscape images and a collection of books, in order to emphasize how images and the material that we surround ourselves with reflect our value systems. A Collection of Innocent Objects reflects on the origin of attitudes that underpinned the issue of land, which was at the heart of the war and Genocide of 1904 to 1908, and which to a certain extent remain prevalent today. The environments that we create around ourselves link us to our past and can perpetuate particular mind frames. It is in the details of the everyday that we often remain unaware of how much the past still haunts us. In this installation, viewers are invited to consider their own role and complicity, whether in subtle or in more direct ways, in colonial and neo-colonial histories or remaining prejudices.

A Collection of Innocent Objects, 2014.
Installation [Detail]

Martha Cloete seated at the desk of A Collection of Innocent Objects, 2014.
Installation at The National Art Gallery, Namibia