(3) Rhino Tooth amulet and rosary

Location: Grootfontein, Namibia / Angola-Namibia border / South Africa

Age: Contemporary

Composite: Rhino tooth, silver bail, beads of stone, clay and wood

Collected by: see below

World-views are precisely wordly because they are all encompassing and irrefutable.

The past 3000 years, but specifically the so-called ages of “Discovery”, “Enlightenment”, and “Industrialization" have conditioned nearly all cultures to think of objects in terms of ownership, material, and monetary value. We assume that production by multiple workers is a recent phenomenon as a result of the Industrial Revolution, though this assumption is not grounded in historical research. There is no reason not to believe that historical artefacts (stone tools, pendants, rock paintings) are the result of collaboration and community effort. It may help to see how an object today can be produced in such a way that it's origin and ownership remains unclaimed or impossible to account for.

• The Rhino tooth (the smallest back molar of the animal) was prodded out with a knife directly from the jaw of a rhino skull by jackal while trespassing through a private hunting resort.

• The silver bail (pendant holder) was custom-crafted and gifted by Brenda, an elderly silversmith and a highly trained artisan in the Overberg region of South Africa.

• The large red, yellow and green bead was handcrafted from Kavango river clay and painted by Ras Munguwa (Namibia-Angola border), a Rastafarian artist and community leader.

*Clay brown beads were handcrafted by Brother Russ in his makeshift "Button factory " at Hihiri Pipiri house in Taltor, Santiniketan, India.

• 7 beads collected from the Kalahari desert and gifted by Prince Ferdil, who is an indigenous leader and shaman.

• Amulet assembled by Prince Ferdil.

• Other beads, of course, have their own secret stories.

Seba_molluscas_Engravings by the Dutch zoologist Albertus Seba, 1665–1736

(3) Cuttlebone

Companion Piece

Location: South Japan

Age: Contemporary

Composite: aragonite

Collected by: Sophie Ray Lee, from the HiHiRi PiPiRi Collection

Cuttlebones have a variety of uses across the world. Brenda, the silversmith from South Africa, collects them from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and uses them for casting silver and other metals by scrapping the soft belly of the cuttlebone into the desired shape. The same technique is used in Japan, where this particular cuttlebone originates from.

The cuttlebone is a unique internal structure system that belongs to the Cuttlefish. In fact they are not fish at all but are rather Cephalopoda (Phylum: Mollusca), similar to octopuses and squid. Cuttlefish inhabit all oceans outside of the Americas.

They are world famous as the "chameleons of the sea" and the “aliens of the sea” for their ability to hypnotise their prey by rapidly changing their colour, pattern, as well as being able to influence the colour of light as it reflects off their skin. They have many other incredible features unique to the animal kingdom.