LIMPOPO

128pp. Buckram cloth with silk-screened artist's impression to front board, title in black to spine. Cellophane protected DW. Superbly illustrated and printed on heavy grammage paper in full colour and b/w with five additional spot colours to certain pages. As such, a rather expensive publication to reproduce.

Lightly touched-up edges to cellophane protected DW. Small brown stains to front panel of DW. Internally the book is clean and tightly bound with crisp edges. 

'Walter Battiss (1906-1982), whose work draws on his interest in archaeology, prehistory, and African rock art, has earned a reputation as one of South Africa’s most celebrated abstract painters. Unlike many South African artists, Battiss did not study overseas but instead researched the artistic traditions of local Indigenous peoples; he later traveled to Greece, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Fiji, and other islands around the world. In the 1970s, Battiss created his imaginary “Fook Island,” a utopia that fused elements of the islands he visited. Battiss conceptualized an entire society located on the make-believe island, including maps, sketches of inhabitants, taxonomies of local plants, and even currency, stamps, and driver’s licenses, which he created and exhibited with other African artists. Although not intended as a straightforward political statement, Fook Island can be interpreted as an alternate reality compared to South Africa’s apartheid state.' https://www.artsy.net/artwork/walter-battiss-limpopo