Rock art by Samburu lmurran (warriors). Photo: Peter Skoglund

Project: Making rock art today – encounters with practicing Samburu rock art painters

Samburu lmurran (warriors) continue to create painted and engraved rock art depicting humans, animals, and weapons as an expression of their cultural identity and lifeworld. In this project, we will conduct in-depth cultural interviews with 6 generations of Samburu painters, learning when, where, and why they created rock art.

Project information

Project manager
Peter Skoglund
Other project members
Joakim Goldhahn, University of Adelaide, Australia, Emmanuel Ndiema and Mathews Wakhungu, National Museums of Kenya, Victoria Waldock, independent researcher
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, University of Adelaide, Australia, National Museums of Kenya
Financier
Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) 
Timetable
1 January 2025 – 31 December 2027
Subject
Archaeology (Department of Cultural Sciences)
Linnaeus University Centre
Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies

More about the project

Kenya’s Samburu warriors still make rock art and express their cultural identity through images of humans, animals, and weapons painted and carved on cliffs and rock shelters. In this project, we will interact with different generations of Samburu painters and through conversations learn when, where, and why they make rock art. We will talk about the images, what they represent and how they are related to the surrounding cultural and environmental landscape. Also, we will discuss with present-day painters how they are adapting or keeping to their traditions in a changing world.

The overall research question is to investigate the socio-environmental context of Samburu rock art, and to analyze how the tradition has changed during the last 100 years. According to our knowledge, the possibility of discussing rock art with a larger number of rock art painters from different generations is unique in a global context. Therefore, the outcome of this project will contribute to a genuinely new understanding of the artist's perspective on rock art.

Our findings will illuminate the relation between rock art images and oral stories and create new understandings relevant for disciplines like rock art studies, visual anthropology, and visual narratology. The collaborative, participatory nature of the research is intrinsic to the enquiry, and a hallmark of this project is an ongoing interaction with Samburu communities and organizations on the best way to conduct fieldwork and research.

The project is part of the research in Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies