Cape Cross, 2020
graphite on paper
235 x 150 cm
Book page from “Namibia”
22 x 28,5 cm
The large-scale graphite drawing Cape Cross is based on a photograph taken in 1971 by the Namibia-raised photographer Alice Mertens, whose great-grandfather emigrated to the colony of German South West Africa at the beginning of the 20th century.
The depicted landscape shows a site along the Namibian coast where the stone pillar of Cape Cross originally stood. Erected there by the Portuguese in 1448, it is considered one of the earliest markers of colonial presence in Africa. Only a fragment of the pillar remains visible, appearing to hover above the landscape.