Work
This unusual ceremonial headdress worn by Maria Ntobela Mahlangu is reminiscent of an American Indian’s war bonnet, which the artisan could have seen only in pictures. Mabkokho, KwaNdebele. South Africa 1982
Front entrance of the Mahlangu home in Mathula Stand. Seventy-year-old Dinah Mahlangu has used soot and slaked lime to create a simple chevron pattern with a band of iblou (bluing). The clay bench in the foreground is used for seating on all family and social occasions. South Africa, 1984
Johanna Mkwebani, seen through the window, has used black soil from a nearby river and slaked lime to decorate the clay and cow dung walls of her home. Pieterskraal, KwaNdebele. South Africa, 1985
Martina Maghlangu. Ndebele women lavish their greatest care and skill on personal adornment for ritual occasions. Mabhokho, KwaNdebele. South Africa, 1985
Anna Msiza wearing the brass neck rings that were given to her on the occasion of her marriage. Mathula Stand, Nebo district. South Africa, 1983
Painted trompe l’oeil windows on the home of the Msiza family on Witfontein farm, Bronkhorspruit district. South Africa, 1985
Sara Mthimunye, dressed in her finest regalia, awaits visitors to attend a weeklong ceremony on the occasion of her brother’s initiation rites. Vlakfontein farm, Verena district. South Africa, 1984
Anna Mahlangu. Mabhokho, KwaNdebele. South Africa, 1983
Letty Ngoma paiting the prefabricated market stalls in Waterval B, KwaNdebele. These stalls were built under the supervision of the local government as part of its program to encourage traditional mural painting. South Africa, 1985
Sarah Mguni of Leeufontein, KwaNdebele. South Africa, 1983
A chicken motif, painted by Martha Mtsweni Ndala, subtly divides symmetrical designs. Wolwegat farm, Verena district. South Africa, 1984
The back wall of the Mabhena home painted by Rossinah. Onverwacht farm, Bronkhorstspruit district. South Africa, 1985
Home of the Mthimunye family on Vlakfontein farm, Verena district, painted by Sara and Lisbeth on the occasion of their brothers initiation into manhood. Chickens in the foreground are devouring an ant heap, collected from far afield. South Africa, 1984
Home of Pikinini and Sara Skosana on Onverwacht farm in the Bronkhorstspruit district. South Africa, 1985
Maria Masango at her traditional wedding wearing a ngurara (ceremonial beaded blanket) on her head, along with a rare headband called a matiki (from the old three penny British coin colloquially called a tickey). South Africa, 1984
Ndebele
An Art, A Photographer, and Apartheid
by David Goldblatt
Since Margaret Courtney-Clarke took her photographs of Ndebele art in the early eighties much has changed in the world of the Ndebele people. In their so-called “homeland”, KwaNdebele, they went through a bloody civil war in 1985-86 in which many were tortured and killed by agents of the state and the clique of black businessmen and civil servants that had collaborated with the apartheid ideologists in setting up the puppet regime. Then, in the early 90s the whole edifice of apartheid came tumbling down to be followed, not by racial conflagration, but by the miraculous emergence of a democratic South African state, in which KwaNdebele became part of the newly named province of Mpumalanga. Sadly, political progress has not been matched by a noticeable flowering of Ndebele art.