Digging Graphic Communication
2015
8 x 8 x 8 inches
Texture gel, Strathmore 400 drawing paper, glue, found bucket and stones, acrylic paint
Genevieve von Petzinger, a paleoanthropologist from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, has been collecting and studying markings from the Ice Age once referred to as “geometric” or “abstract” signs. She now refers to them as “nonfigurative” signs, the markings that aren’t recognized as depicting physical things. Often regarded as the leading expert in her field, she has created a database of around 30 signs that appear repeatedly throughout the world, both from written anthropological records and from personal site visits.
Genevieve has published a very interesting interactive set of articles on Bradshaw Foundation’s website on the cave symbols. She and I have been communicating by email for the last couple of years and it’s been a pretty exciting ride so far. Since we started communicating, she’s also published a scholarly article, done two TED talks, had a book published by Simon and Schuster, and become a National Geographic emerging explorer. During that period she also managed to find time to cover my first attempt at writing a scientific paper with red marks. And she and her husband had a child. Simply amazing.
The painting on the bucket was inspired by a still from a video of Genevieve during one of her cave site visits in France.