CURRENT PROJECTs
DADA Coex’ae Qgam The Book
'I am one of a kind. I don't know why I was created'
By Ann Gollifer and Jenny Egner
The life story of a Nharo woman; story-teller, dancer, bead-worker, painter, print-maker, daughter, sister, mother, lover, wife and friend. From Botswana’s Kalahari Desert comes the biography of an internationally celebrated painter Coex Ae Qgam – known to family, friends and the world as DADA
IN HER WORDS and THROUGH HER ART:
Her work has been exhibited in galleries across the globe; London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Santa Fe, Krakow, Dordogne, Berlin, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Kani (Japan) and, closer to home, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Windhoek, and Gaborone. Dada's life, recorded in conversations and interviews, has been collected and lovingly crafted into a book that tells the story of a woman born into a world that was changing so fast, that survival as a creative and vital human being, demanded that she become extra-ordinary, finding a truly universal voice with brush, paint and canvas. Having intimately shared the last 17 years of Dada’s singular and at times tragic life, Gollifer and Egner have put together a definitive collection of her words and images. Gleaned from conversations over 17 years of friendship, Dada's voice, embellished and given context by friends and colleagues is at the core of this biography. Its appeal is universal in that it deals with a life lived with equal doses of charisma and despair in the face of poverty, disease and loss of land and the erosion of culture.
DADA: A BRIEF HISTORY and BOOK SYNOPSIS 1934 – 2008
“When I asked Dada who she was, she told me that ‘others’ called her a ‘Bushman’ because her people came from the bush. She called herself Nharo, ‘the red people’ of the Ghanzi area of the Kgalagadi Desert, Botswana” Ann Gollifer
Dada’s biography spans a myriad of worlds. - A child plays in soft springbok aprons in the desert sands. - A girl sees tyre tracks for the first time, running parallel through the sand. She thinks they are the tracks of giant snakes. - A beautiful young woman flirts with a throng of suitors. - A new mother gives birth to her first child in a ‘paddock' alone. - A woman goes to jail for two years with her infant daughter, to prove a point - As Spokes Person for the Kuru Art Project, Dada discovers the secrets of painting. Her geographical boundaries expand and she flies between the world’s capitals, spreading the message of her art, and most importantly, the message of her people.
The authors
Ann Golliferis a permanent resident of Botswana. She has lived and worked in Gaborone since 1985. Born in British Guiana, (Guyana), 1960, she has an English father and an Amerindian mother. In 1983 she graduated from Edinburgh University with a Masters degree in History of Art. An Artist member of the Thapong Visual Art Centre, Gaborone, Ann was part of the executive committee, responsible for the building of the centre. Ann is a painter and printmaker. She draws on photography, music, dance and literature for her work which is inspired by the human condition; history, identity, both personal and collective. Ann is currently represented in Johannesburg by the Everard Read Gallery and in London by the Bicha Gallery. She has exhibited internationally, throughout Southern Africa, Europe and the USA.
Jenny EgnerJenny Egner is a primary school teacher , working for the past few years as a freelance editor/writer; magazine editor, a copywriter for the IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) and a freelance writer for organisations including UNICEF, SADC, Ministry of Education and Kuru Development Trust. Most recently she has been a project manager and author for Macmillan Educational Publishers. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Tufts University, Boston and an M.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Gaborone, Botswana with her husband and two children.
The first edition of 'Dada' will be available in August 2011. There will be 1000 copies, each signed by the authors and each printed with a lino-cut of Dada's signature.
each book will cost US$55 excluding shipping costs:
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EMS rates:
- South Africa US$12
- Europe US$25
- Rest of the world US$30
You can place an early order and find all payment details at: ann@anngollifer.com
Photographs supplied by Ann Gollifer, Maude Brown and Willemien Le Roux.
