The recent discovery of the Australopithecus sediba, believed to be the oldest intact human fossil, by renowned paleoanthropologist Professor Lee Berger, has resulted in a creative body of work that may well become significant in the context of the intersection between the disciplines of architecture and archaeology.
Drawing on Origins is a group exhibition featuring the work of, among others, architect and artist Lorenzo Nassimbeni. Working with celebrated architects Elena Rocchi and Dieter Brandt, a select group of participants, among them Nassimbeni, were led into the field to investigate the site of this seminal discovery, the Cradle of Humankind, outside Johannesburg.
The exhibition is the result of a workshop in which participants were encouraged to delve into the caves at the Cradle of Humankind and to explore the planes of the landscape to produce creative work inspired by this historically significant environment. Workshop participants were tasked with producing work that analyses and references three prescribed “landscape strata”, namely “Up and Above”, “Surface Movement” and “Below Ground”.
Together with Nassimbeni, 13 other creatives participated in this Gauteng Institute of Architects and NIROX Foundation Co production by Dieter Brandt and Elena Rocchi:
- Angela Shaw
- Bertus van Sittert
- Carlyn Winch
- Craig McClenaghan
- Dieter Brandt
- Elena Rocchi
- Emma Brecher
- Hugh Fraser
- Jesse Davis
- Mpethi Morojele
- Rhett Martyn
- Rodney Harber
- Roz Harber
Nassimbeni produced a series of pencil and ink drawings, as well as a mural, that forms part of the exhibition hosted by the NIROX Foundation and the Gauteng Institute for Architecture (GIfA) in Braamfontein, and runs until October 2012.
