Hunting with Kalao bird, Lola Lonli
Your recent publication about the Kalao bird reminded me of a 1994 graphic work, that is in a private collection for long time already. At that time, I collaborated with the Research Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Together with our group of artists "Union of African Figures", in the halls of the Institute, located on Patriarch's Ponds in Moscow, two festivals of arts and cooperation between African and Russian countries were held: "Magic of Africa" in 1994 and "Africa of Dreams" in 1995.
"Hunt" is one of the works, thanks to which these events generally took place in the form of festival. Idea of the first festival of arts and friendship between Russia and Africa, based on an exhibition of Russian Africanists artists, came from this drawing, with this idea we went to the leadership of the institute. So the hunter, crouching in the savannah in search of an antelope, became the first emblem of the "Magic of Africa" festival. Many interesting events took place at the festival: concerts, fairs, business presentations and many, many meetings. These events inspired all my further exhibition activities. Since then, this has been my favorite format of events at exhibitions and festivals - many nationalities, many types of art; it always turns out to be interesting and informative and useful for everyone.
Each nation of the Earth is unique and interesting, the diversity of culture enriches us, when we know how to appreciate it. In folk culture, every feature is not accidental. Each skill of world exploration is the work of many generations of people, each tradition is an element in the development of the unique genetic code of the nation, its long-term contribution to the overall cultural evolution of the Earth. The greater the variety of knowledge we store and study, the richer we become spiritually. One wonderful African proverb says: "A herd of antelopes has many heads, a hunter has many minds of ancestors in one head"!
And the particular history for the creation of this picture I read from one of the Soviet travelers Africa.
In Nigeria, hunters put a dried hornbill or kalao head on their heads to sneak up on antelopes unnoticed. The kalao bird acts as a sentry with antelopes and warns them of danger with its cry. Therefore, seeing the calmly walking "bird of kalao", the antelopes continue to graze, other, real kalao also do not notice the catch because of the thick grass, and the hunter remains unnoticed.