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Tragedy of the Commons:
Part II
Bimbi Luboso’s Right Foot
(1879 - 1919)
Bimbi (pronounced “Bembeh”) was chief beater for the famed explorer, Lord Buford Mumford Augustine Tullyrill; he was head tracker and huntsman from 1899 to 1906.
As a game scout, Bimbi was well known for his tracking skills. Bimbi was in full charge of locating big game (rhino, elephant, cats and buffalo),organizing the beaters and flushing the quarry to the sights of Lord Buford, his comrades and slayers.
In October of 1906, Bimbi located a huge band of elephants. Lord Buford had long wanted to fell a large bull as a trophy. This prized pachyderm had recently joined a group of females with intent to mate. Lord Buford had, for years, pursued this monster, which was adorned with the largest “Tuskers” he had ever seen. This, Lord Buford wanted for his personal self — to be a trophy unmatched.
At the time Bimbi found the herd, his master, Lord Buford, was suffering from a severe case of gout and could neither ride nor walk, but intent on the conquest, the Lord insisted that Bimbi order his beaters to drive the herd from hiding to within convenient range of the campsite, even though Bimbi’s village was in the path between the elephants and his master.
With his position as tracker in direct conflict with his family and village ties, Bimbi refused to execute the Lord’s command. Bimbi was summarily bound, and his right foot was severed just above the ankle (a common practice for insurrection) as reward for his dissent. Lord Tullyrill was strict and uncompromising when it came to disobedience — “can’t have the cheeky kaffir doin’ what he will or nothing would get done.”
Kamsi, the second, a rival huntsman from another tribe, was promoted, and gladly embraced his new position, driving the herd into the sites of the Lord’s guns.
Bimbi’s village was destroyed, his eldest son was trampled to death, his wife, Tamsaw, was disfigured and lived only a few months after the tragedy.
Bimbi was forced to leave the remains of his family and work for a coffee plantationer as a floor scrubber.
Buford got his bull (a record held for some twenty years), and the herd was decimated with much feasting and merry making after the stacking of over four tons of ivory.

Life's stories

Life's stories can be held in a shoebox. This Shoebox is but one of billions of shoeboxes, billions of stories.

History Not Recorded

Tragedy of the Commons: Bimbi Luboso’s Right Foot

History not recorded, Tragedy of the Commons: Part II

Submission from the 6th Internationl Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition

Catalogue description of Michael Randles: "Sequel to Tragedy of the Common, in the 5th International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, Bimbi Luboso's Right Foot directs the point of view to history not recorded, a narrative of fate self-organized and indifferent. Betrayal, ignorance and loss are metaphor in the cast and lot of humanity." Bimbi, head tracker for Lord Buford Mumford Autustine Tullyrill, was bound and his right foot severed when he refused to drive a herd of pachyderms within range of the Lord's campsite. Michael Randles remains on the testy edge of art and ideas. "Iconoclastic iconography is a task reduced to a cacophony of isms; fertile ground for the genetic white noise emanating from our vestigial tails to interrupt humanity's neural circuits while I, affectionately, still swing from the trees."

shoebox sculpture

exhumation