Karoo wabi sabi - die omtowering van 'n doodgewone landskap
Hierdie essay ondersoek 'n aspek van Suid-Afrika se dorre Karoo wat klaarblyklik nog nie juis baie aandag ontvang het in die literatuur nie. Dit is die relatiewe oorvloed van weggegooide of vanselfsprekende artefakte en strukture wat 'n essensiele deel van die Karoo se mise-en-scene, of besondere omgewing, uitmaak, maar wat, vir die ongeergde oog, net deel van 'n weggooibare verlede is. Ten einde die sogenaamde weggooigoed tot hulle regmatige plek in die sosiale beeldskap van die Karoo te herstel, word die Japannese estetika van wabi sabi opgeroep en gebruik as 'n lens waardeur hierdie onopsigtelike kenmerke van die ingeleefde landskap vanuit verborgenheid herwin kan word en in 'n meer waarderende lig blootgestel kan word. Alhoewel wabi sabi geen openlik instrumentele waarde het nie, suggereer hierdie essay dat 'n omgewing wat gevul is van wabi sabi, bydraend is tot oorpeinsing en dat die waarde van wabi sabi mag le in die kreatiewe emosionele reaksie wat dit ontlok by diegene wat sensitief is vir die aangrypende skoonheid daarvan. Die essay sluit af met die gevolgtrekking dat Karoo wabi sabi inherent deel is van die egtheid wat so 'n aantreklike kenmerk van die Karoo se besondere stemmingsvolle atmosferiese omgewing is. Alhoewel die kunsmatige bewaring daarvan nie 'n inherente deel van wabi sabi is nie, vereis dit nogtans die respekvolle sorg wat die hele skepping toekom, op grond van die transendentale waardes wat dit bevat.
Karoo wabi sabi : the transfiguration of the commonplace
Much has been made in recent years of those qualities which seem to convey the essence of South Africa's arid Karoo - its silence, its space, its solitude, its tranquillity. And yet, apposite though these attributes are, they do not exhaust the whole that is the "Karoo experience". In a sense they are suggestive of unrealised potentials - forms devoid of content. This essay seeks to supplement our comprehension of the Karoo gestalt by giving content to the emptiness implied by space, silence and solitude. It does so by introducing the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi and by arguing for its immanence in the Karoo such as it is presently being constituted in the social imagery.
A feature of the Karoo which appears to have gone largely unremarked on in the literature is its relative abundance of discarded or taken-for-granted artefacts and structures. These relics of the past, scattered throughout the landscape, make up an essential aspect of the Karoo mise-en-scene, but to the indifferent eye they tend to be dismissed as the worthless detritus of the past. Wabi sabi is here invoked as providing a lens through which these unobtrusive features of the lived-in landscape can be retrieved from obscurity and cast in a more appreciative light. The intention is to fix the concept of wabi sabi within the Karoo imaginary and to lend substance and colour to an important component of the Karoo's patina, or texture, which has remained largely subliminal to date.