adminPathisa Nyathi
AN important point that ought to have emerged from the last instalment was that whatever the African made qualified as beautiful in terms of identified elements of African Aesthetics. The first line of beauty comprises nature and its characteristics such as circularity, curvilinearity, movement and rhythm/seasonality/periodicity. The African Mind, being an extension of nature created in such a way that its products are in congruence with and display similarity with nature, or beauty. Hands execute what the mind has created. It is this perception that leads us to conclude that everything that the African made was essentially beautiful. We are at the point where we are identifying elements of African Aesthetics. Why we do this is to assist us to contextually explain and interpret Great Zimbabwe, a product of the African Mind and, by extension, one that is imbued with elements of African Aesthetics.
The last article dealt with circularity as an important element of African Aesthetics, and one that forms the basic creative design, not just of the planet earth but, indeed, the entire known universe. It is a creative design that, for purposes of avoiding monotony or adding variety, is reconfigured, albeit retaining the same meaning resident in a circle. We shall see later how all the reconfigured designs/ icons/ symbols are captured at Great Zimbabwe and, indeed, at other stone (Zimbabwe type) settlements scattered over many sites in Zimbabwe and beyond. This article looks at one other element of African Aesthetics that is resident in the cosmos or heavens and is replicated at the cultural plane in order to capture the essence of beauty/ aesthetics resident in the cosmos. As above, so is below. Let thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.
Accordingly, the next element of African Aesthetics is curvilinearity. The term is used to refer to the crescent moon which essentially is a reconfigured circle, or part of it. The meaning resident in a curvilinear design is the same as that represented by and expressed in a circle. Islamic states have adopted the crescent moon as part of the design for their national flags. The Red Cross has also been replaced by the symbol of a Crescent. Ironically, a crescent moon and the cross carry exactly the same meaning, as we shall see later. In nature we see curvilinearity in the crescent moon when a new moon emerges on the western sky or when the moon is about to “die”.
Yet we do know that in reality the moon has remained the same in physical terms, retaining the same design. What we see as curvilinearity is an expression of the relationship of the moon to the sun in so far as the lit part of the moon is concerned while the rest is in darkness and, therefore, not visible to human eyes. What this translates to is that even optical illusions are taken to be real and are replicated on the cultural plane.
A look at tree leaves will show them to be comprising two halves that meet at the mid-rib or vein. Each presented half is completed by an imaginary half circle. The two circles, real and imaginary, constitute a complete whole or circle. The real part of a circle is, in actual fact, curvilinear, or part of an imaginary circle. Are we likely to see such phenomena at Great Zimbabwe? Do we have incomplete stone wall structures which, when extrapolated, would constitute full circles? I want to believe we have plenty of such incomplete stone walls. Even in their incompleteness, they still are endowed with an important element of African Aesthetics. Whatever the African made had to correspond to nature by bearing its essential element of beauty/ aesthetics.
Let us now venture into yet another element of African Aesthetics, namely the chevron. Recently there has been some noticeable proliferation of women’s attire resplendent with chevron designs. Essentially, we are here referring to an open V-shape whose point is facing down. The V-shape may also be represented by a triangle when its two ends are joined.
Whether the design is an open V or a triangle does not take away its meaning. The design is informed by and represents a part of the body of woman. It is that part of her body that bears the all-important biological part, the womb. The importance of a womb cannot be overemphasised. It is here that future life is assured following fertilisation of a woman’s ovum (female component) by the man’s sperm (the male component). It is needless to point out that both these two generative body cells are circular in design with the male component, the sperm, somewhat elongated in front and provided with some flagellum-looking tail. These are adaptations incorporated in the design to effect intended purposes. The tail propels the sperm forward along the vaginal canal through the cervix into the womb where it meets the ovum which was formed in a circular ovary and travelled along a circular tube into the circular womb.
A circular design effects movement. Did man invent the wheel or he merely captured cosmic reality and applied it to the cultural realm? The sperm, formed in a circular testis and travelled along a circular tube (urethra), is somewhat pointed at the other end in order for it to perforate the outer membrane of the ovum so that the two fuse and form a zygote which develops into an embryo, out of which shall grow a future foetus and baby. This is the biological site where life is brought about and afforded eternity, continuity, immortality and endlessness. Africa knew about all this without having to render it all in the English language and in Western scientific terms as I, being a product of Western science by training, will render it. Science to the African was functional requiring no rendition in “scientific” terms but application.
Where this process of human fertility and where dual and complementary opposites come together to constitute life, is the open V or triangle. We can also express this as the chevron unit. As we shall see its importance is in regard of two very important considerations. Firstly, it is where life is perpetuated. This is the same as saying it is where continuity, endlessness and immortality of the human species are effected. It is important to note that the biological processes are taking place within the body of woman. The man’s role ends with the deposition of his sperm and he moves on to do the same to other women, ukuthi qobhi, as I sometimes express it. Even insects possess this knowledge which is in-built into their nature as instinct.
Immediately after mating, the female insect turns on the male and munches it as if to say, “Here ends your role, dear mate. The rest is left to me to fulfil. So, dear erotic partner, you might as well become food for our babies that are growing inside my body, munch . . . munch . . .”
Within the context of elements of African Aesthetics, an open V or triangle lacks beauty. An element of African Aesthetics that we shall deal with later comes into play to achieve precisely that — repetition. What is important to appreciate is that the chevron unit does not exist in nature. Rather, it exists on a flat surface where it is a 2D (two-dimensional) representation of a 3D (three-dimensional) reality. Surely, a woman’s body is not two-dimensional. Instead, it is three dimensional. This takes us to another level of reality. What we are terming a chevron is, in actual fact, a cone which has a three dimensional reality. A cone is no more than a reconfiguration of a circle. From the pointed end, it comprises an infinite number of circles of increasing radii or diameters. Starting from the top, it comprises an infinite number of circles of decreasing radii or diameters. Essentially, we are thus dealing with a reconfigured circle, the organising unit of nature or the universe. Not only is the repeated open V or triangle replicated at Great Zimbabwe, it was equally replicated at the National Heroes Acre in Harare. Hopefully, those who replicated the iconic chevron unit knew and appreciated its meaning and significance in our cultural heritage.
The repeated open V or triangle is imbued with visual beauty. It is replete with movement, rhythm, symmetry and bears elements of repetition and equilibrium. More than in a circle, the elements inherent in a chevron design are more obvious than in a circle. One has to have a perceptive mind to detect the same elements within the context of a circle. The circle is the ubiquitous building block for the universe/ heavens. However, when it comes to its representation and expression on the cultural plane, the chevron takes over without in any way taking away anything from the circle in terms of its primacy, universality and meaning.
There has been some debate relating to whether a chevron is a unit or not. To answer that we need to turn to its source of inspiration — within the context of the body of woman. The chevron is a unit in so far as its source, inspiration and representation reside in the body of a single woman. In reality, therefore, the chevron is a symbolic unit devoid of beauty or aesthetics. In order to impart beauty/ aesthetics to it, individual units are joined together which is the same as saying the one unit is repeated (Chikomo and Nyathi 2016).
In biological terms, the chevron unit is inspired by that part of the body of woman that is involved in the perpetuation of the human species. It is a component part of the body of woman which plays a role in sexual reproduction, that all-important natural process that guarantees the endlessness, immortality and continuity of the human race. “Individuals perish, humanity is forever.” This is the saying that I crafted not so long ago when I began delving into the satisfying and exciting field of African Cosmology or African Thought.
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