thedisgraceofgod: Yazan Halwani, Beirut graffiti virtuoso, detained ...

thedisgraceofgod: Yazan Halwani, Beirut graffiti virtuoso, detained ...: [Originally posted at NOW ] It hasn’t been an easy few weeks for Yazan Halwani, the artist who has, at the astonishing age of just 20, dist...

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The Guanche Connection

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I have found myself delving into the aboriginal beginnings in the Canary Islands and have made some significant discoveries. The original inhabitants of the islands were Guanches, who are thought to come from the Berber tribe in North Africa. This tribe were reputed to be very tall, with blond hair and blue eyes, a description which also fits the Grooved Ware folk from Orkney who I believe could be one and the same. The graffiti that I spent much time photographing around the island turns out to be a Guanche motif. There is a  neolithic settlement on Lanzarote called Zonzamas which seems to have striking similarities to Skara Brae in Orkney, although it is very hard to find and not promoted much as a visitor attraction. In fact, I had great difficulty in locating it on the island. During the Spanish Inquisition anyone of Guanche origin was hunted out and put to death, so many islanders denied their Guanche history from that time onwards and it still seems to be rather a taboo ...
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