QGAM (Qgam Khãx’a)

Qgam, a quiet serious man born in the early sixties, grew up, like most of the artists from the Kuru Art Project, on the farms in the Ghanzi district. In 1997 he attended an art workshop where the particular simplicity of his style was soon recognised. Thereafter he produced beautiful canvases in oil paint and some very sensitive line etchings, lithographs and brightly coloured lino prints.

Like his character his work has a feeling of modesty. He loves to depict the animals he encountered in his life. Through his art he portrays a deep knowledge of the animals, the veld and the traditions of his people. He still has very vivid recollections of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in which he grew up. He says: " As a child life was hard, but it was also fine because there was always meat. We were not often hungry, because our parents could hunt for food. Nowadays you can not even cook a tortoise in the ash or you get caught and put in jail". He loves to portray the eland or the gemsbok, because he can still remember how the older men went out to hunt them. He remembers the joy and dances around the fire and how they would have enough to eat for days before the men had to go out again to look for food. Qgam has no preference in techniques. He loves them all. For him the most important thing about being an artist is to learn new things. It gives him a chance to do things that can be compared to what people with better education do.

Together with the other Kuru artists his work has been exhibited worldwide. He attended the Thapong International Artists' workshop in Botswana in 1999 and found it a very enriching experience. He enjoyed working together with different artists but seems not being influenced by their styles.

	People and animals - reduction linocut - no date
	Man on springbok skin - reduction linocut - 2000
	Man teaching his children about gemsbok - reduction linocut - no date