Khoikhoivrouw met zuigeling c. 1675 - 1725

This watercolour painting depicts a Khoikhoi woman carrying her child. Consider the staff she holds: this simple object, a branch, becomes a symbol of authority, direction, and perhaps even spiritual guidance. The staff appears across cultures – think of the scepters of ancient rulers or the staffs carried by religious figures. It signifies power, leadership, and connection to the earth, and becomes a potent emblem of status and control. The staff is laden with psychological weight and cultural significance, evoking ancestral memory and power dynamics, yet its symbolic potency persists. As we consider its cyclical recurrence, we must contemplate the layers of meaning it accumulates through time.