Ochres In Life And Death © 2014 James Warren


    Neolithic People...Stone People lived face-to-face with rhino species and depicted them in incised stone and bone and cave paintings of ochres. Ochres were and, sometimes still are, used for ritual purposes by some people. This includes the painting of bodies and objects. People, today, still use actual stone along with concrete in myriad living and working conditions. Ochre is still a component of industry and the arts. 
    Where is the black rhino? Is it in a zoo hoping to breed just one more? Is it fleeing the road from poacher's strike to rhino-horn-as-status-commodity? Or, is it getting a few moments to just be a rhino? 
    Somewhere in my things I have a copy of John A. Hunter's autobiography. During his adulthood in early 20th Century East Africa he likely became the person who killed the most rhinos of anyone, ever. In private experiences,at times, but most prevalently under government sanction, he eliminated Eastern Black and Northern White Rhinos. It was about 'progress.' He recalled the days when rhinos and elephants were actually out on a more lush savanna, before progress had taught them to hide in the bush. 
    This new composition from a public domain image suggests present-day rhinos are already regulated to nostalgic renderings and certain extinction, no matter how long each individual member may sustain itself in the 'wilds' some of the poorest, some of the wealthiest and some of the most indifferent people create. When rhinos, or humans die, their blood pours out to renew the ochre in the dust. 
    I do note, though, that the Southern White Rhino, through human intervention, has rebounded. 

Source: 
Public Domain Picture: Black rhino 
By: Ruggiero, Richard, Courtesy: US Fish & Wildlife Service