Painted at a point in time when Slingsby’s purely abstract canvases were defined by straightand curved lines crisscrossing the surface, which loosely fell under a conceptual group titledEbb of Alkebulan. The concept arose following Slingsby’s 2024 field trip to the Richtersveld.It proved to be a profound experience. The degradation of the magnificent rock art sites wasoverwhelmingly heartbreaking. It raised a flood of questions. What is in place to protectthem. What laws. What agencies. Which people. How. Why.This led to a deep research dive into the subject. The deeper he went, the murkier and moredisturbing, the nature of information emerged. The end point was always the same, that is, thecustodians of South Africa’s rock art, despite making all the right noises, are paying moreattention to their own legacy than that of the ancient artists.Alkebulan is a word indigenous to Africa, to identify Africa. Alkebulan means the garden ofEden or the mother of mankind. With Africa the focus of Slingsby’s field trips, the Ebb ofAlkebulan paintings can be recognised by very straight lines in conjunction with naturalcurved lines. The straight lines represent the infiltration of modernity into traditionalcommunities as a result of Anthropocene man’s destructive activities like mining andagriculture on their ancestral land.The natural, curved lines represents nature, the vulnerable environment, fauna and flora.Slingsby has referenced this as the beauty and the beast of landscapes in flux. It is out ofboth, that Slingsby’s art emerges.