And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread (Matthew:4:3).

Arise, lift up the lad (Ishmael), and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation (Genesis 21: 18).

 

This is a roadmap whose cartographer has thoroughly lost the directions of the way to peace. Within the 40 shallow whitewashed boxes a trail of pebbles has been laid to show the way. It is however hardly possible to distinguish the stones from the bread placed between them. Boshoff has constructed, as many times before, a 'map to get lost by'.

 

The roadmap links two well-known tales. In a story of bitter betrayal by a father of his children, Hansel and Gretel are led into the woods. Their father hopes that they might never find their way home. At the first attempt, Hansel is able to retrace his steps following the pebbles. The second trail is lost because the birds have eaten the bread that marked it. When Abraham sends Hagar with the infant Ishmael into the desert he gives her bread and water. When the water and bread are spent, Hagar places the child under a bush, not wanting to witness its death. God however has other plans for Ismael. He wants to make him the father of a great nation.

 

Like the river Jordan, Boshoff's 'roadmap' winds its way through the desert. The stones and the bread are marked with Arabic names and their meanings in an attempt to put the full register of Arabic names at risk. Each pebble may fill the fist that holds it, big enough to be a deadly weapon. Are these names the claim to the land they lie on? Are they the name of the victim aimed at? Are they the name of the carrier of the weapon? Might anybody follow this trail home? Whose home? Where is peace? Why did we come here in the first place?