Otjitundu

2008

Mixed Media

David Jacobson: “And the final image is an image of the “Otjitundu River”, which I’ve called also the “Colour of Draught”, because in the dry riverbeds, when you stop and look over the sides of the bridges, you always see the most incredible things. In this case a sheep’s head and an oil can – a goat’s head rather and an oil can –, which I remember very, very well, because those were the oil cans that people always carried when they went camping, everyone had these big oil cans – they were all for cooking, it was not for your car but for cooking. Below that is an image of a buffalo, and then a lion, and then a wild pig, and then a guinea fowl. It’s an advert outside a taxidermist, they are very brightly coloured – actually those are close to the original colours; I was really happy with the fact that they’d come to terms with how rich the number of animals they had was. And someone was actually doing the relatively decent job of also making fun of it!” And then on this image as well, which also has compass reference points to indicate exactly where it is, lines of latitude and longitude so that you could go back and find the can or the goat’s head. I did a satellite search for the river, and exactly where I would have seen these things, so that is on 15 degrees and 53 minutes and 43 degrees and 37 minutes east and 21 degrees and 57 minutes etc. south, and that’s exactly where they are. But in this one the idea of the road and tarmac melting comes into its own, because I’ve turned the road into the river. And it’s just disappearing, because it goes on and on and on and on and on, and along here, at the bottom, is the pipeline that you can see, and I never knew whether that now carries water or whether it now carries oil or something, I never did get to find out, but it runs all the way …”

Daniela Schlettwein: “There is a pipeline there?”

David Jacobson: “Hm. And, once again, the repeat of the filmic idea of the goat’s head changing, and in the middle the oil can which was going to cook it.”

Daniela Schlettwein: “That wasn’t near the bridge?”