Northern Cape San Rock Engravings: Embroidery

Twelve large-scale embroidery panels are installed in the Judges’ Deliberation Chamber of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Created during an intensive three-day workshop facilitated and directed by artist Leonard Shapiro (Project Director), twelve master embroiderers from the Northern Cape translated ancient rock engravings from the Kimberley region into textile form, materially and symbolically linking the Northern Cape to the Court.

The project was developed by Shapiro in consultation with archaeologist David Morris. As part of this process, Morris led Shapiro, Liz Bosman, and the twelve embroiderers on a site visit to view rock engravings in the Kimberley region. With Morris’s consent and guidance, Shapiro made use of archaeologically accurate line tracings of the engravings as source material. These tracings were photocopied and provided to the embroiderers for the workshop.

During the three-day workshop, the embroiderers reinterpreted these precise archaeological tracings through stitch, scale, and surface, transforming engraved line into thread. Working collaboratively yet individually, they translated incised stone markings into textured textile compositions. The resulting monumental panels, mounted above head height within the chamber, embody a material and conceptual shift: incision becomes embroidery; stone becomes cloth; archaeological trace becomes living cultural expression.

For a detailed account of this series, see Naudia Yorke's exam essay from the University of the Witwatersrand's Writing Art's Histories MA module, facilitated at the time by former CCAC curator Stacey Vorster. It can be accessed here: From Stone to Sewn: Unpicking the Traces of 12 Northern Cape Embroideries.