BOOK LAYOUT 'MY HEART STANDS IN THE HILL'
Struik Publishing
There are remote parts of Southern Africa that seem untouched since the time Bushmen walked and hunted and danced there. Archives in Cape Town has thousands of pages of Bushman lore, transcribed painstakingly by language specialists of the 1800s. There’s an ever-expanding audience of readers hungry for the wisdom represented by our First Peoples.
Leaping Frog art-directed and produced the layout of MY HEART STANDS IN THE HILL, a magnificent book representing the tragically intertwined journeys of some of these First Peoples and European settlers, the fascinating spiritual travels of :Xam “medicine men” and “rock artists”, and the pilgrimage of a modern archaeologist and filmmaker who symbolically return the image of these early South Africans to the landscape that was their home.
Craig Foster and Janette Deacon located significant places described by these people and found rock engravings that record ancient shamanistic experiences connected with rainmaking and other rituals. The viewer, reader is transported to the landscapes through powerful images of the engravings in their setting. Photographs of the :Xam people themselves are brought back to the landscape by projecting the images onto the land.
THE BOOK IS DIVIDED INTO FIVE PARTS:
- A Landscape full of Memories, the fascinating story of the Bleek and Lloyd archives in which 11 000 pages record the words, stories and beliefs of Bushmen imprisoned at Cape Town’s infamous Breakwater Prison.
- Earth, :Xam lore about our origins, and how to live with the land, not just on it.
- Water, Stories of rainmaking, of spirits and of death.
- Fire, How trance influences the images that remain on Southern African rocks.
- My Heart Stands in the Hill, Astounding photographs create a new dimension that reveals the spirits of the past seen through the veil of time.
THE PHOTOGRAPHER AND AUTHOR
Craig Forster is an award-winning filmmaker who has won international acclaim for his two Bushman films, The Great Dance and Cosmic Africa. Janette Deacon is a well-published archaeologist who specialises in the 19th century :Xam Bushmen.
“Our words and photographs layer past and present experiences to celebrate the intangible beliefs that sustained this landscape for millennia.” – Janette Deacon & Craig Foster
MY HEART STANDS IN THE HILL was nominated for the Jenny Crwys-Williams Book of the Year 2005.
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Fire – How trance influences :Xam images.
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The cover of My Heart Stands in the Hill.
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Astounding images creating a new dimension.
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