Of folklore, tales and myths

At The Gallery
Storytelling is an form of art that is as old as time itself, the recital of an event may often differ from multiple perspectives; for example, the Gilgamesh Flood in Babylonian lore, the Deucalion of Ancient Greece and the Genesis account of Noah from Judeo- Christian framework. Myths, lore, old wives tales, legends both classical and urban are often present thematically or contextually in artworks and artists will always make an interpretation of any story through visual language.

An exhibition entitled “Folklore: An Exploration of the Unsung Art-form” currently occupies the MMCZ Gallery at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, providing a wide range of tales partnered with their visual counterparts in the form of paintings and sculptures. The viewer is taken through this show by means of anecdotal guidance, which makes the works of art on display representations or allusions to the stories provided therein.

The exhibition presents some of the unusual items in an exploration of this unsung art form. It captures the eccentricities and creative brilliance of folk art today and a reflection of the true ethos of mankind. The subject of this exhibition is an integral part of everyone’s life. Folklore is usually assumed to be anonymous, expressive of a whole culture rather than one person’s intention and design. It includes, among others things; objects, tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, beliefs and customs within a particular culture. It is a discipline concerned with revealing the interrelationships of different cultural expressions.

A considerable amount of folklore is unspecified and almost designed to provoke thoughts. Some items in this exhibition seem to provoke discussions or raise questions about the nature and limits of folk art and its contributions to our daily lives. Folklore concerns itself with the details of relationships based on cultural expression. Some elements are a base for legend and fantasy, albeit nestled comfortably in a world of moral and societal value. Folk tales, as those told by our elders are some of the most enduring tales in existence. These tales attempt to discover the basis of our common humanity, the imperatives of our human and moral existence.

The tradition of folk art continues to this day with artists and craftsmen still creating works such as these on display. The items on display in this exhibition are from The National Gallery’s Permanent Collection, which began as a collection of specifically different media such as wood, clay and cloth among others. What emerged though was a sort of fantastical collection of work that bore innate and curious stories, not only of their acquisition, but also more interestingly in their form.

The small village/mobile work by Dexter Nyamainashe is a successful mix of craftsmanship, engineering, solid and enduring story telling. The scary beast by Zephania Tshuma facing down the heart rendingly simple Christ on the cross, we feel points at the predominant contradiction in the modern world. From where we come from to where we are.

Additionally, figures that depict characters from folklore, such as sculptures and paintings may be considered to be folklore artefacts, depending on how they are used. Examples in this exhibition include the Makonde sculptures and Tinga — Tinga paintings from Tanzania. The works evoke a reminiscence of a place in history and as such, in a more contemporary context, a link to a common and inclusive humanity follows; family, community, the daily trivialities and routines of life and the living world. The enduring value of these tales are a generous, more inclusive human involvement. It is this attempt to discover the basis of our common humanity, the necessities of our human existence, which put Folklore at the very centre of humanistic study, a reflection of our society, a mirror in which we see ourselves and offer others to try to get to know us. Comments on the Exhibition have been astounding with visitors applauding the interactive nature of the exhibition and the access that it gives the public to works from the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s Permanent Collection.

“Folklore: An Exploration of the Unsung Art-form” runs at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe until December 31, 2015.