Rock to Canvas

Artist Shefa Salem has been interested in Libyan rock art for years, and has chosen this art form, along with introducing it locally and globally, as her artistic project. The artist has taken it upon herself to depict Libyan rock art murals on canvas, allowing those who have not had the opportunity to stand before them in the Acacus, Matkhandoush, and other sites, to view them at an exhibition held in one of Libya’s cities. Furthermore, these paintings remain available on her website for people from around the world to explore. The artist has studied the colors of the murals and the natural landscape of Libyan rock art, presenting her vision with meticulous care within a project that is no longer merely local, but has become global.

This painting is a reimagining of a mural discovered by the archaeologist Fabrizio, Mori while working in the Acacus Mountains, and he wrote about it in his very important book ” Tadrart Acacus. Arte Rupestre E Culture Del Sahara Preistorico”. Mori found this mural on a rock frame in a hideout in ” Uan Muhuggiag” and says about it: “It is a unique model of its kind to this day in the totality of rock arts.” Nothing of the features of this painting became clear until after the wall of the cache was wetted several times, and despite the difficulty of understanding the details of the mural, Mori was able to deduce all its details, and the importance of this painting lies In being located within the spiritual world of the inhabitants of the Acacus, and that it clearly refers to the funerary rituals and the use of the boat in them, and there is no doubt that this mural proves that the use of the boat in the funerary rituals in Libya is much older than those rituals in Pharaonic Egypt, and that the journey of the god Ra in his solar boat has been started in Libya and moved to Upper Egypt with Libyan immigrants on a journey in search of water after the land in the Acacus turned into a barren desert.

200*330
Oil on canvas
2021

The ritual mural dates back to the Round Heads period and shows three people and a child. It was discovered by Mori in Wan Tamawat-Acacus. It is said to be 160 cm in size and has heads with masks similar to those found in Wadi Matkhandush. Mori indicated that the morphological features of the whole painting suggest a description of a black man, but Alfred Mussolini says that it suggests a description of a Mediterranean race. According to Mori, the meaning of this mural must be sought in ritual ceremonies. What distinguishes this mural is that all the figures in this period were drawn with a round head or tending to roundness and without any features, but in this mural the details appear complete and strong and are in harmony with the other drawings in the same period.

200*365cm
Oil and mixed media on canvas
2024
This painting is part of the Identity Project, in which I represent the ethnic and cultural components, including the works of the early inhabitants of Libya on the walls of caves, valleys, and rocks around the desert. The painting depicts the Garamants in the period of the role of horses, which fall according to chronology between 2700-1500 BC, And these chariots were a way to link the city of Gramma in the heart of the “desert” with the coast and created a trade road, as it was used in wars.
 The painting is inspired by many desert drawings, which depict chariots and horses.
 
300*200cm
Oil and mixed media on canvas 
 

Nov-2020