Chronicle Editor
IT has been 10 years since the inception of “My Beautiful Home (MBH) — Comba Indlu Ngobuciko.” That was back in 2014 when the visual art tradition had been taking a nose-dive following the introduction of Western cultures with their alternative ideas regarding aesthetics. The project was born out of an interest and participation in cycling from the city of Bulawayo to the scenic Matobo Cultural Landscape.
Veronique Attala had been inspired by the few decorated houses that she came across in her cycling tours. She had an idea to enhance the old Ndebele visual art tradition. She immediately thought about Amagugu International Heritage Centre (AIHC) where I was director. We had been operating within Ward 17 in Matobo District where there are 25 wards in all. When she approached me, I was more than ready and willing to team up with her.
At that very moment, I was travelling to the United Kingdom (UK) where I was scheduled to attend the Research Day that is held every year in June at Oxford. In the meantime, she recruited Professor John Knight who was a lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology (Nust)’s Built Environment. Upon my return, I teamed up with the two and we were on the move to have other people join us. The following joined the project: Dr Andre van Rooyen from Icrisat, Clifford Zulu, curator at the National Gallery in Bulawayo where Voti Thebe was Director, Butholezwe Kgosi Nyathi the Programmes Officer at Amagugu and Violet Ki Tui.
With that full complement, it was arranged that we visit the chief in the area where we were going to operate. The chief was Malaki Masuku whose chieftaincy was descended from Chief Mkhokhi Masuku of Nyamayendlovu. His father was Nzula the son of Chief Hole whose wife was the royal Princess Famona, the daughter of King Lobengula. In that year, we decided to make an entry into two wards, namely Ward 16 (Silozwi and Silozwana) and Ward 17 that encompassed the following villages, among others: Silungudzi, Domboshaba, Njelele, Dewe (the ward centre), and Mawusumane.
The idea had been to use the year of entry as some baseline survey that we were going to use to measure our impact and success following the intervention that we sought to institute. We wanted to know the number of women that were still active in painting their houses in accordance with what had been passed down from their sisters, mothers, aunts, and grandmothers. The hut visual art form is a preserve for women. Clay is handled by women, as was the case with grass. Men handled and worked metal and wood. There was gender-based division of labour that mutatis mutandis, still applies to this day.
The 34 women that continued to practice the old visual tradition produced geometric designs whose inspiration they had no clue about. For them, the designs were part of the intergenerational transmission of the visual art traditions alongside other arts genres. They did not see the connection between African cultural astronomy and the designs that they expertly produced.
Chevrons proliferated. Sometimes the chevron patterns came disguised when they were not vertically executed, as is the case with the razor patterns of the Ndebele people of South Africa where Esther Mahlangu is the icon and ambassador of African artistic renditions. The circular designs also dominated on their decorated walls. Equally, the universal decorative design was not understood and its proliferation and universality was similarly not appreciated.
Today, when we revisit the wards, there are women crafters who, through the intervention of Amagugu, appreciate meanings behind their artistic designs. Art, I have argued before, has several layers of meanings, some of an aesthetic value and others of a functional one.
Over the years, more wards, also under Chief Masuku, joined in the annual competition whose prize-giving ceremonies have usually been held at Amagugu International Heritage Centre at Whitewater, also known as Tshapho. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, one prize-giving ceremony was held at Mthwakazi Centre along the Bulawayo-Kezi-Maphisa road.
The waning visual art tradition had remained true to tradition. There was adherence to the black Africa-wide adage, “As above, so below.” The geometric designs, unbeknown to women crafters, still expressed cosmic designs as exemplified by celestial bodies, planets and moons that orbit around the planets. Theorbital routes of the cosmic bodies were elliptical; it was designs of heavenly bodies, and their elliptical orbits that were mimicked. It was not just an increase in the number of participants, but also a noticeable change in the visual art tradition. It was movement from artistry to artistry. The women were set free from the shackles and bondage of old thought and cultural traditions. They began to experiment with new designs, introduced novel patterns, and new sources for inspiration. Floral designs made an appearance. In due course, they too exited the arts arena when cloth designs entered the fray. White members on the adjudicating team were happy with these new inclusions. Blacks on the same team still seemed to favour geometric designs from the ancient times.
However, it was not a revolutionary departure from old traditions. For example, in the wildest forms of artistic innovations the jigsaw puzzle was introduced. The woman who introduced it on her wall designs arranged the puzzle in such a manner that the chevron pattern was discernible. This is the characteristic of the chevron motif and pattern. It can be executed from small triangles, circles, spirals, and dots, among other designs. It is extremely versatile and accommodates the wildest of creative minds,
In all the cited diverse combinations, the meaning remains the same. In fact, we end up with repetition of the same basic design and meaning. It is, in essence, beauty or aesthetics on aesthetics. Aesthetics is concentrated and enhanced by an arrangement that emanates from the centre. Longitudinal water waves are regular pulsations of energy. Art on numerous layers of complementary art is enchanting, engrossing and enthralling.
A careful scrutiny revealed that the puzzles constituted a chevron arrangement. This was an important middle of the road arrangement. It was one that was exotic but laid down according to traditional geometric designs that are underpinned and informed by cosmology and African Thought emanating therefrom. It was not easy to completely break loose from the shackles of tradition.
In 2017 the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe through his programme for cultural preservation, financed the project to write a book on the preservation of Ndebele art and architecture within the Matobo area. Several themes were chosen, ranging from history of the area, its architectural traditions and the extraction of earth for painting and indeed, interpretation of artistic designs that the women executed.
Quite a number of us were involved in the book project: Professor John Knight, Clifford Zulu, Dr van Rooyen and myself. Amagugu Publishers published the book that was a milestone in unpacking the history of the local people through the visual hut wall designs.
Roof structures were inspired, in the main, by Ndebele architecture with their typically tiered grass pattern. The Sotho/Tswana tradition was responsible for the exterior hot wall designs. The interior, with its platforms and shelves, originated in the Shona world shared in common with the local Nyubi/Kalanga people.
Even after 10 years since the old visual art tradition was given a new lease of life through prizes that were given annually by corporates such as Kango, Halsted, Fortwell Wholesalers, Hamara, Arenel and many others, the visual art tradition is still going strong. Veronique Attala who has been the moving spirit behind the project stepped asideand gave organizing powers and responsibility to Silenkosi Moyo the incumbent Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. However, Veronique continued to lend support to the organisers and rallied sponsors towards supporting the project.
It became clear that the project would have to run on its own steam. This year, 2023, it became patently clear the ward co-ordinators were more heavily involved, from communicating with the women in their wards to planning the prize-giving day on 22 September. In order to achieve sustainability, the women participants were asked to make contributions of US5,00 each.
That marked the beginning of innovative measures to ensure communities began to drive and sustain the project. The corporates had over the years, provided prizes that were relevant to rural life. Wheelbarrows, ox-drawn ploughs, solar lighting equipment, and kitchenware such as dishes, plates, teapots, plates, kettles, metal cups, and Jojo tanks, inter alia were availed by sponsors to winners.
This year, one of the sponsors, Treger indicated a new thrust that it seeks to take in their sponsorship moving forward. Prizes on offer cultivate or answer to a need for a corporate that keeps its ears to the ground resulting in the manufacture of products that meet emerging demand.
Thoko Ndlovu, from Treggr’s Marketing Department who has attended all the prize-giving events at Amagugu, was there to indicate a new direction in the prizes that they will be giving going forward. It is acknowledged that the impact of the project to date has made some considerable effect on the communities in Matobo. However, external appearances alone will not suffice. Prizes on offer ought to improve the entire homestead including the health of community members.
When the Bulawayo Mayor, Senator David Coltart laments the amount of accumulated trash in Bulawayo, this is because the young, who are today’s adults, were not socialised into ensuring that it was not right to dispose of trash everywhere and anyhow. As adults, we reneged on our responsibilities, to do the right thing: catching them young. Environmental health and cleanliness should complement and resonate with domestic and personal health and hygiene. This, according to Thoko, is the direction Treger is taking as it seeks to motivate the rural communities to adopt their well-thought out strategies.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. MBH is poised for a new lease of life.
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