NewAfricanWoman Issue 49 - Flipbook - Page 83
ARTS & CULTURE
Beauty
of our
Ancestors
Enthralling Art by Zizipho Poswa
Almost a year in the making, uBuhle boKhokho (which means Beauty
of Our Ancestors) marked the beginning of yet another ambitious
chapter for the extra-talented South African artist Zizipho Poswa.
And we are in awe.
each embodiment photographically
as part of her process. Through this
charged metaphoric lens, hair becomes
a personal script for language, for the
carrying of meaning and the celebration
of self as an act of defiance.
Measuring up to two meters high, the
sculptures are confrontational in their
monumentality while retaining an
imposing sensuality.
Their hand-coiled ceramic bases reflect
Zizipho’s shift in focus from pattern and
colour to shape and texture, culminating in elaborate adornments made from
either bronze or clay.
The series of 20 sculptures employs a
visual vocabulary that straddles figuration and abstraction, reflecting the
three-dimensionality of woven, braided,
and threaded hair. ▶
Photos by Hayden Phipps, supplied by Southern Guild. Hair creations by Samantha Mushamba
T
he series of ceramic and
bronze sculptures draws
inspiration from the elaborate art of hairstyling
practiced by Black women
across the African continent and diaspora. Presented by Southern Guild
uBuhle boKhokho recently concluded
as solo exhibition which ran for
3 months until 2 February 2023. And
we still cannot get over it.
Zizipo explored her own cultural story
as a Xhosa woman through the making
of these sculptural works. Hair, with
its profound symbolic relationship to
Blackness, remains a relevant source of
inspiration and dialogue within contemporary cultural discourse.
She created and wore 12 hairstyles over
a period of five months, documenting
l
March 2023 New African Woman
l 81