Sunday, February 10, 2013

Native American Rock Art

 "Rock Art" is scattered around the world. I love to visit and speculate what people were doing and thinking when they put these images out there. Set in stone, these artists knew their work would last beyond the next rain storm and they had something to say.


These few I put up today are from the southwest and share an anthro-type body in most of them. Unless I talked with the artist I doubt I can pull up the meaning for that person, but I can have my own vibe to the moment I am there and the photo I bring home.

An old favorite I found in a tiny cave near a stream. The artist laid on the ground out front and painted the ceiling to create a star burst.
Made me wonder and then my old film camera went off again to make a double exposure with the starburst appearing in a waterfall! Starfall? Water-star? Interesting to speculate. If I find the photo I'll post it someday.

3 comments:

half dane said...

Nice pictures. And yes, what does it mean? Anything you wish. Wish big.

Richard Sherman said...

Nice pics, as usual!

My favorite rock art is the aboriginal paintings in northern Australia that depict animals and humans in a stylized "x-ray" manner. It was intended to convey the entire essence of the subject all at once -- spiritual, outward physical appearance, inner structure. Stunning.

We have a number of sites here on Hawai'i that contain petroglyphs chipped into the lava. Particularly interesting to me is how these changed after contact with the Europeans, including the appearance of writing (which the Hawaiians didn't have). Sadly perhaps, contact often turned the artistic petroglyphs into lettered graffiti. One exception perhaps is the word "KAHIKO" I came across recently in a lava tube cave. It means "Ancient," usually in a positive way. It was deliberately chipped backwards. Did the author mean the old ways were backward? Or was he expressing his yearning to go back to them.....

Anonymous said...

Hey there! I'm at work browsing your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the outstanding work!

My blog: natural dark spot corrector