«
Wallpainting Traditions and Techniques
For over a hundred years, the Ndebele have decorated
the outside of their homes with designs. Before the mid 19th century, the Ndebele
lived in grass huts. During the years of the Difaqane (scattering of the people
during the Boer wars), the Ndebele mixed with their Sotho and Pedi neighbors,
which resulted in the Ndebele switching from grass to mud walls in their house
construction. They also integrated their cultural traditions, adopting the originally
Sotho practice of decorating their walls with finger painting.
 |
One form of early design was made with earth pigments,
ranging from bright yellow to brown. The pigments were ground up and mixed with
liquid to form a "paint" that was used to decorate door and window
frames, bordered with charcoal. |
The second form of early designs were made by
dragging the fingers through wet plaster, usually cow dung, to leave a variety
of markings, from squiggles and zigzags to straight lines. In this form of painting,
the entire wall was divided into sections, and each section was filled in with
contrasting finger paint patterns. In the Ndebele belief system, it is only
this older form of painting that has any spiritual significance, and is believed
to be demanded by the ancestors to create cultural continuity. Some Ndebele
claim that sickness and bad luck would come to those who did not recognize the
ancestors.
This form of decoration is still acknowledged by contemporary painters,
who decorate the ground in front of a new wallpainting with these older designs.
In this way the artists acknowledge their ancestor's ways, blending the old
with the new.
 |
The contemporary form of wallpainting is a surprisingly
recent phenomena, and is linked to the history of the people themselves. After
the indenture of the Ndebele in 1888, many of the freed Ndebele migrated to
Hartebeesfontein. In 1923, they became separated from their King, and again
found themselves in exile from the symbols of their tribal identity. |
Living
among Afrikaner farmers and Sotho neighbors, the continued cultural identity
of the Ndebele was threatened. Those in the north in time increasingly adopted
the Sotho language and other cultural traits. The southern Ndebele, the Ndzundza and Manala, by contrast, kept their Nguni language, persisted in ceremonials such as First Fruits rites and initiation, and made their particular identity highly visible in their homes and dress. Under the most extreme conditions of
marginalization, significant developments in Ndebele painting emerged and flourished.
It is women who have been the practitioners of
the artistic forms that are such striking Ndebele cultural markers. In beadwork
and wallpainting, women have an outlet for the expression of their experience
of the world, of their aspirations, and of their identity as individuals and
as part of a group. The first paintings' imagery came primarily from the women's
beadwork traditions that go back hundreds of years. The early paintings were
geometric and primarily decorative. Over the decades, the painters' style quickly
developed and the artists began to incorporate imagery from their lives, particularly
the details drawn from their work as domestic servants in white households in
the cities. Electric lights, swimming pools, multistory houses, telephones,
airplanes, and water taps all appear prominently in Ndebele paintings. Artists
have been quoted as saying that because they want these things for themselves,
they paint them on their homes. Read literally, the symbols and designs in Ndebele
wallpainting reflect the aspirations of the painter, and ultimately, the community.
To begin a wallpainting, the artists divide the
wall into sections and then snap chalk lines diagonally across each section.
Next, the artists begin painting the black outline
of the design for each section. Painting is done freehand, without a scale design
layout done beforehand. Neither rulers nor squares are used, and yet symmetry,
proportion and straight edges are exactly maintained. |
Blank wall panel |
 |
Then, the black outline is filled in with color,
and white spaces offset painted areas. After the color has been applied, the
final step is to repaint or touch up the black outlines.
The earliest paintings were done with earth pigments,
whitewash and laundry bluing. Although commercial paints have replaced the older
pigments, the artists still use chicken feathers as paintbrushes. Ndebele painters
distinguish styles and origins among different forms of mural decoration. |
Ndzundza (Southern) Ndebele art also tends to be
open, less busy and more geometrically disciplined than that done by the Ndebele
elsewhere.
 |
Like the Ndebele culture itself, the style of wallpainting
is in a constant state of becoming: assimilating and appropriating from the
long-held spiritual beliefs of the Ndebele people as well as influences from
the more and more culturally dominant and technology driven West. Through their
bold, geometric designs, the women artists of the Ndebele affirm the identity
of the group, and proclaim their uniqueness to all who see their art. |
Sources:
Ndebele: A People and Their Art. Ivor Powell. NY: Cross River Press, 1995.
The Ndebele: Art and Culture. Aubrey Elliot. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 1993.
Back to Top
«
Beadwork
There is no conclusive theory regarding the introduction of
beads into Ndebele culture. It is thought that they have long been used by
the Ndebele people and that the early glass beads, mostly of Czechoslovakian
origin, may have been introduced during the second half of the nineteenth
century by European traders. Beadwork has always been done exclusively by
the Ndebele women, who are renowned for their artistic skills. Their beadwork
and bead pattern-inspired mural paintings in particular have become an integral
part of Ndebele culture.
The motifs used in beadwork and in wall painting show great
vitality and dynamic response to the changing world around the artists. Commonplace
items such as letters of the alphabet, especially from car registrations like
TP for Pretoria, and N for Ndebele and Ndzundza, are used in their normal
form or are elaborated for their design effect. Telephone poles, airplanes
and the symmetrical geometric patterns of razor blades are also included.
Stylized plant forms may express a hope for good harvests in a dry region.
However the most frequent theme, as in wallpainting, is the house. Gables,
gateways, steps, rooflines and light fixtures may all be recognized on women's
aprons and on walls. These reflect the domestic interests of women, and may
point to aspirations of idealized homes.
 |
The types of beads used have changed over the years, and in more recent times
the prohibitive price of the small, imported glass beads has led to the use
of larger and cheaper plastic beads for more common items. Women who wish
to make more fashionable items often recycle beads from older pieces of work.
However, many of the old customs and uses for beads persist as women still
painstakingly thread beads to make items such as the nyoka (literally 'snake'),
which is a woven, beaded train worn by a bride during her wedding ceremony.
Another trademark item is the unusual linga koba, or long tears, consisting
of two narrow strips of woven beading that are worn hanging down on each side
of the head. Mothers wear the linga kobe at the ceremonies marking the end
of their sons initiation ceremonies. The pair of narrow beadwork bands attached
to a headband reaching onto the ground represents the tears of sorrow and
joy a mother has as she initiates her son into manhood.
|
In beadwork women have a personal expressive form. Beads are used Nyoka to
decorate, or even to form, clothing. Men, who work on farms and in cities,
generally wear beaded clothing and ornaments only at occasions such as initiation
ceremonies. Women are also increasingly employed away from home and wear their
beadwork less commonly. But wherever beadwork may be worn, it has been made
by women who use this medium to make known their personal and family status,
transitions in their lives, and to demonstrate their own creativity.
Clothing and their usage are described in the past tense, because traditional
use is described here. These are now worn to a greater or lesser extent depending
on individual preference and circumstances.
 |
Very young girls wore an igabe, a small apron with white beaded dressed skin
or cotton fringes attached to a front waistband, densely covered with beadwork.
After puberty and the accompanying initiation ritual, a young woman wore an
isiphephetu, a stiff front apron decorated with beadwork, and she could then
wear the isithimba, a long soft skin back apron, which was worn by women of
all ages from puberty to old age. |
 |
For her marriage, a bride wore an itshogolo, a goatskin front apron, with
the lower edge cut into five approximately hand-length flaps. This was worn
undecorated for her wedding, but as a married woman grew in status at her
husband's home, she embellished her itshogolo with beadwork. She wore it at
important ceremonial occasions, such as the initiation of her sons. Married
women wore another type of front apron, an amaphotho. It was shaped rather
like the itshogolo but had a central beaded fringe with two squared-off flaps
at either side. |
An important item worn by brides was a naga, a paneled skin cloak. At her
marriage, a woman also receives a plain canvas apron from the family of her
groom. The apron consists of a rectangle with five panels, which are referred
to as "calves" and allude to the woman's ability to bear children.
After her marriage, the woman embroiders the apron with seed beads in a simple
design for everyday use or in more elaborate patterns for ceremonial use.
She sews imported European glass beads onto the canvas backing and arranges
them in bold geometric designs that echo the shape of Ndebele houses. In the
apron, blue, green, and pink beads contrast with the white beaded background.
This was often decorated with mainly white beads. A married woman's nguba
is judged by the detail and intricacy of the beadwork that is used to decorate
it, and is worn to all important ceremonies for her married life.
Old Mapoto
New Mapoto |
Older beadwork pieces, from the 1920s and 1930s, show the predominant use
of white beads as a field color, and have symbols in mainly primary colors,
green and orange. It appears that in time the designs were elaborated upon
and enlarged, leaving less of the white field. Within approximately the last
two decades, possibly influenced by wallpainting styles, the design has tended
to occupy the entire piece. Along with this change has been a change color
preference. Especially among the Ndzundza, the colors currently popular are
dark blues, greens, purples and black, with touches of white. Little research
has focused specifically on the selection of motif and color by the beadworkers.
The change outlined above may simply indicate the sweep of fashion and availability
of beads, or it may relate to regional and clan differences. It is possible
that the significance of motif and color is different in particular contexts.
In some situations they may refer to a group identity; in others as markers
of status within a group; or as personal communication codes, for example
between courting couples. |
Through their artwork, the Ndebele maintained a strong group consciousness,
and beadwork became one way in which they asserted their identity. They painted
their homes with distinct patterns and wore beaded clothing and ornaments
as part of everyday dress. Thus, the Ndebele proclaimed their cultural identity
no matter where they were.
Sources:
Ndebele: A People and Their Art. Ivor Powell. NY: Cross River Press, 1995.
The Ndebele: Art and Culture. Aubrey Elliot. Cape Town: Struik Publishers,
1993.
Back to Top
«
Weaving
In order for the women to weave items such as the sleeping mats,
they must first go into the fields to harvest a variety of indigenous grasses.
The cutting of grasses can be done only at certain times of the year, usually
during the drier months of the Highveld winter when the grass is considered
to be 'ripe' or dry. The women may also harvest and use certain sedges for weaving,
depending on the items they are planning to make.
Ndebele woman wearing isigolwani, seated on a mat |
Dried grass is also used as the basis for making the thick,
beaded isigolwani or neck, arm and leg bracelets. Once the grass has been cut,
the women wind it into a firm hoop that is bound with strong cotton. Strings
of beads are threaded, one tiny bead at a time, and wound around the grass hoop,
which is then placed in a large pot of boiling sugar water. This causes the
band to harden and set from within. These heavy bands of grass and beads are
later soaked in syrup and left in the sun to set for two days, during which
time they are regularly turned to face the heat to ensure that the syrup penetrates
deeply. The excess syrup is washed off and the isigolwani are ready to be worn. |
The art of weaving is, to a large extent, a dying craft within
the Ndebele community. Domestic articles, such as woven baskets and storage
containers, are no longer used on a daily basis because the Ndebele tend to
buy their food already packaged from the shops. However, there are a few items
that are still in demand, such as the sleeping mats. They are not used so much
for sleeping on, since many Ndebele families own beds, as for sitting on outdoors,
or giving away as gifts. Weaving allows Ndebele women to express their creativity
and colored cottons and beads are sometimes woven into the mats as decorative
motifs.
Sources:
Ndebele: A People and Their Art. Ivor Powell. NY: Cross River Press, 1995.
The Ndebele: Art and Culture. Aubrey Elliot. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 1993.
Back to Top
«
A Brief History Of The Ndebele
The roots of the Ndebele people are dug deep into the brown,
often harsh soils of the rolling Highveld. Their history can be traced back
for some four centuries, to the time when they were once part of the Nguni tribe
that moved down from Central and West Africa some two millennia ago. The Southern
Nguni, along with their cousins the Sotho-Tswana, gradually settled the southern
African subcontinent. Intermarriage and assimilation resulted in the emergence
of a range of different identities and groupings that today are recognized as
the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele tribes.
In the 16th century, the Ndebele split into Northern and Southern
branches; the northern branch, which assimilated with the Sotho-Tswana, has
all but disappeared today. In the early 1600s, King Msi and his followers left
their cousins, who later became the mighty Zulu nation, to settle amongst the
low hills around which present day Pretoria is built. After his death, his two
sons Manala and Ndzundza fought over the chieftainship, and the Ndebele split
into two main factions. Manala and his followers went northwards, towards present
day Pietersburg and have been largely assimilated by the surrounding Pedi. Ndzundza
and his followers, who today are known as the Southern Ndebele, went east and
south and they have remained distinctly Ndebele and culturally independent of
their neighbors.
In the 1840s, the Ndzundza migrated once again to find a fortress
from which they could defend themselves. King Mabhogo led his people to an area
now known as Mapoch's Caves, in the hill country east of Roosenekal. Mapoch's
Caves are located at the top of a long, steep climb through dense growth and
deep ravines. The network of caves beneath the earth made the place practically
impenetrable against attack. However, the rich farmland of the area allowed
the Ndebele to prosper and accept refugees of other tribes who had been displaced
by the Difaqane (the scattering of the people by the Boer invaders).
In 1849 and 1863, the Ndebele successfully warded off attacks
by the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek (ZAR), or white Boer invaders and settlers.
Unlike some of the other tribes in the region, the Ndebele refused to negotiate
or be bribed by the Boers, as their King Mampuru was bitterly opposed to white
settlement. In October 1882, the intractability of the Ndebele led to a proclamation
of state, whereby Commandant General Piet Joubert was authorized to use whatever
means necessary to take King Mampuru. One month later, a formal declaration
of war against the Ndebele was issued.
For eight months the Ndebele held out in subterranean tunnels
in their mountain stronghold at Mapoch's Caves. Every attack on them was easily
repulsed, and the Ndebele repeatedly led Joubert's men into ambushes. Joubert
eventually changed tactics and cut off supplies from the outside, destroyed
the Ndebele crops and livestock, and starved the Ndebele out of their stronghold.
When defeat came, retribution was swift and relentless. The cohesive and threatening
tribal structure of the Ndzundza Ndebele was broken up and all of their tribal
lands were confiscated and divided among the Boers. King Mampuru was hanged.
The people were forced to work on white-owned farms in forced
labor for five years. The resulting system was in fact slavery, and the farmers
had absolute power over their indentured laborers. Many Ndebele were prevented
from leaving at the end of the five-year term, and even today, more than 100
years later, there are still laborers working on farms whose conditions have
not changed since their ancestors were indentured in 1883. The Ndebele had no
recourse in custom or law to the harsh rule of the Boers, and physical assault
remained a commonplace of life. Those who were allowed to leave were left to
fend for themselves where and when they could, and lived a nomadic life.
From the early to mid-20th century, the Ndebele were in the
wilderness, figuratively and literally, and as a result, maintained a strong
tribal identity in the face of the government forces that sought to destroy
them. Their mural art and beadwork and their strict adherence to culturally
based rules of personal adornment maintained their cultural unity and reinforced
their distinctive Ndebele identity. Thus, Ndebele art has a cultural, indeed
a political, significance that lies beyond its aesthetic appeal. Through the
1950s, the Ndebele Kings were not willing to negotiate with the dominating central
white government and allow the Ndebele to be grouped with other tribes in a
homeland, instated subjects to the Apartheid regime.
Pressure for tribal recognition and a separate homeland within
the Ndebele gained momentum, and in 1968, King David relented and allowed himself
to be recognized by the South African government as paramount chief. In 1974,
the Ndebele homeland was established and resettlement was begun. More than 10,
000 Ndebele were forcibly removed from their homes near urban areas where they
worked and were unceremoniously dumped in the homeland to satisfy the National
Party government's desire for ethnic separation. The government's failure to
create industry and jobs within the new homeland resulted in many people having
to spend over 8 hours a day and half of their wages commuting to and from the
city.
Another problem that arose in the new homeland was the result
of the corrupt chief minister Skosana and his white, government appointed advisors.
By 1981, Skosana and his unelected legislature owned 70 percent of all businesses.
In 1985, State President P.W. Botha announced the incorporation of the Ndebele
into the Lebowa homeland as a step towards "independence" of the Ndebele homeland.
Violence and an outright civil war followed, with Skosana and his supporters
on one side, and the people, led by the royal family, on the other. By August
1986, 160 people had lost their lives, 300 had been detained by the authorities,
and hundreds had gone "missing". Schools had been raided and students savagely
assaulted and tortured. The students retaliated by burning the Skosana clique's
homes and businesses, and faced with such destruction, the legislative assembly
backed down. In 1988, Ndebele women were granted the right to vote and elections
were held for the first time. A landslide victory for the anti-independence
party of Prince James Mahlangu resulted, and the homeland was reincorporated,
reversing the history the National Party had sought to construct.
The Ndebele artists who came to Tacoma to create the wallpainting
are from the Mpumalanga Province in the Northeastern part of the country (see maps at right). |
  |
Sources: Ndebele: A People and Their Art. Ivor Powell. NY: Cross
River Press, 1995. The Ndebele: Art and Culture. Aubrey Elliot. Cape Town: Struik
Publishers, 1993.
Back to Top
