The art of survival in the bush

A people's struggle to survive is highlighted in a show at the Barbican Centre's Concourse Gallery. Britain's first major exhibition of contemporary art by

African Bushmen aims to spotlight the threats to their future as well as giving an insight into Bushman art and culture. Curated by the Rebecca Hossack Gallery and backed by Survival International, the exhibition called ]Kung (meaning People) features paintings on canvas, linocuts, lithographs and monotypes, hand-stitched cotton quilts and hand-woven baskets dyed with natural materials including the rust from donkey chains.

The Bushmen live scattered in the

Kalahari Desert of southern Africa - an area about seven times the size of Britain. They number nearly 100,000, of whom 45,000 live in Botswana.

Survival International says the Bushmen are suffering because the land which they have traditionally depended on has been taken over, and they are discouraged from hunting, leaving them facing poverty and despair. Survival spokesman Ghislain

Pascal says: 'The work is an expression of their way of life and their culture.'

All works are for sale, with prices from pounds 50 to pounds 500, and the exhibition runs

until 14 October.

(Photograph omitted)