Rhodesia Archives - Dan Halter

Whatever happens we have got the Maxim gun and they have not

‘Whatever Happens, We have got, the Maxim Gun, and They have not ’ 2021 Relief print with Silkscreen on Fabriano Artistico, hot pressed, 300 gsm (Published by South Atlantic Press) 67 x 126 cm

This title is a quote from The Modern Traveller (1898) by Hilaire Belloc. This satirical poem lampooned the European explorers in Africa and the colonialists with their idea of European superiority. The Maxim gun was an early machine gun that helped colonial expansion in Africa by effectively outgunning the local warriors. During the First Matabele War in Rhodesia, 700 soldiers fought off 5000 Matabele warriors with just 5 Maxim guns.

The Grass is Singing

The Grass is Singing 2021 Hand woven archival ink-jet prints 201 × 168 × 6 cm

This work incorporates the entire text from Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing.

The Grass is Singing (detail 1)

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The Grass is Singing (detail 2)

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The Grass is Singing (detail 3)

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This Was The Old Chiefs Country

This Was The Old Chief’s Country 2020 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints 54 x 41.5 cm

The text from Old Chief Mshlanga by Doris Lessing on a map of the district of Banket, in the Lomagundi area of Zimbabwe.

This work has the entire text from the short story The Old Chief Mshlanga by Doris Lessing from her collection of short stories This Was the Old Chief’s Country (1952). This text is laid over a map showing an area of Zimbabwe where I believe the farm she talks about in the story is located.