In the photographer's words:
In South Africa, many black people spend their lives chasing shadows. While the expression "chasing shadows" has quixotic connotations in English, in indigenous languages the expression represents the pursuit of something real, something capable of action, of causing effects--a chase perhaps joined in order to forestall a threat or danger. Seriti in Sesotho (my mother tongue) does not readily translate. The word is often translated only as "shadow," unwittingly combining the meanings of moriti and seriti. The word "seriti" overlaps the word meaning "shadow," but the absence of light is not all there is to seriti. In everyday uage seriti can mean anything from aura, presence, dignitity, confidence, spirit, essence, status, wellbeing and power--power to attract good fortune and to ward off bad luck and disease.
The demise of apartheid has brought to the fore a crisis of spiritual insecurity for the many who believe in the spiritual dimensions of life. Today, this consciousness of spiritual forces, which helped people to cope with the burdens of the apartheid, is being undermined by mutations in nature. If apartheid was a scourge the new threat is a virus; invisible perils both.
No comments:
Post a Comment