Heroes Not Zombies

This sculpture in the Dylan Lewis garden in Stellenbosch evokes the sense of an ancient primate, maybe an early human, maybe a creature evolving between the higher primates and first human as we now know them.

I love how he’s captured the sense of the creature walking, not quite yet upright, but still using a hand to get around. I did think, at first, maybe it was someone bending over to pick something up, but I think the positions of the legs convey a feeling of movement, not simply stooping. I also love how the shape of the creature’s back echoes the shapes of the mountains in the distance.

I enjoy sculpture in nature. It often arrests me, capturing my attention, my gaze, and stimulating my thoughts and reflections. The whole Dylan Lewis garden is large and has many, many sculptures, placed throughout it, and its position at the edge of a wilder area, without any fences or walls around it, make it feel much more natural, although, I believe, it was created in a massive work of landscaping just a few years ago. It looks ancient, and it’s embedded in the even more ancient.

His sculptures often capture a kind of betweenness – in this case, a stage of evolution, between primates and modern man.