Great Falls Elementary Art Enrichment – May-June 2017 South African Ndebele People

Slide 1 • The Ndebele people are an ethnic group living in South Africa known for their artistic talent, especially their painted houses and South African Ndebele People colorful beadwork. • Their history can be traced back four centuries, to when they were part of the Nguni tribe that moved down from Central and West Africa some two millennia ago. The Ndebele settled near Pretoria, now the capital of South Africa, in the 16th century. • Rivalry between families caused one group of Ndebele to go farther north into Zimbabwe, but of the groups that stayed in South Africa, it is the Ndzundza tribe that developed abstract house-painting schemes and is recognized globally as the Ndebele of South Africa. • Their exuberant art is not only a testimony to the strength of these people, but a symbol of beauty and pride for all South Africa. Their vivid house painting and beadwork is often highlighted on the covers of South African travel books and brochures, and one can even see the influence of the Ndeblele’s bold, graphic designs in the colors and geometric design of the new South African flag.

Slide 2 • The history of the Ndebele people is filled with fascinating stories. In the 19th century, the Ndebele, like many other African tribes, had their lands taken from them by white settlers – in their case, the Boers, or Dutch farmers. • The Ndebele had always been fierce soldiers, however, and fought back repeatedly. The most famous leader of the Ndebele, King Nyabela, actually led his people to settle in a whole new area, now known as Mapoch’s Caves, where they built an impressively sophisticated civilization that took ingenious advantage of the area’s natural geography, building terraced agricultural fields, irrigation canals, fortresses, tunnels and underground bunkers upon a landscape of ravines and hills, strewn with boulders and honey-combed with intricate caves. • Eventually, King Nyabela and the Ndebele were defeated by the Boers, leading to the breakup of their tribe, the confiscation of their lands, and the life imprisonment of King Nyabela.

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Great Falls Elementary Art Enrichment – May-June 2017 South African Ndebele People

Slide 3 • After the war, the Ndebele people became indentured servants to the Boers for many years, and later, under the apartheid government, were forced to move to resettlement camps, basically barren plots of land, where they built their houses out of whatever materials they could find. • Within these closely populated camps, with little room for their livestock to graze, the ever-resourceful Ndebele created small, close- knit villages of individual homes with small courtyards to hold animals, shared common areas, and separate areas for both men and women. • Living among Afrikaner farmers and Sotho neighbors, the continued cultural identity of the Ndebele was threatened. In order to retain it, the southern Ndebele kept their Nguni language, persisted in ceremonials such as harvest rites and initiation into adulthood, and continued their distinctive styles of home and dress.

Slide 4 • Architecture is the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. • One common theme in much traditional African architecture is the use of fractal scaling: small parts of the structure tend to look similar to larger parts, such as a circular village made of circular houses. • Dome-shaped, or round houses with a cylindrical roof (also called rondavels) are seen throughout Africa. Likewise, house painting is another architectural tradition throughout Africa, such as these examples from Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

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Great Falls Elementary Art Enrichment – May-June 2017 South African Ndebele People

Slide 5 • Women have been the practitioners of Ndebele art, with traditions passed down from mothers and grandmothers to daughters. In beadwork and wall painting, women have an outlet for the expression of their experiences, aspirations, and identity. • To begin a wall painting, the artists divide the wall into sections and then snap chalk lines diagonally across each section, using a string that is lightly dusted with chalk. • Next, the artists begin painting the black outline of the design for each section. Painting is done freehand, without a layout. Neither rulers nor squares are used, and yet symmetry, proportion and straight edges are exactly maintained. Then, the black outline is filled in with color, and white spaces offset painted areas. • 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.

Slide 6 • Ndebele homes are often – but not always – built as rondavels, with round walls, and a conical, thatch roof. • The shape and the thatch help keep the homes cool in the summer and warm in the winter, by allowing air to circulate and heat to rise to the top, where the thatch roof is vented. • Thatched roofs are made by gathering reeds and grasses, lashing them together, and stacking them onto a supporting framework. The overhang of the thatched roofs allows the infrequent but heavy rains to run off and away from the house.

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Great Falls Elementary Art Enrichment – May-June 2017 South African Ndebele People

Slide 7 • The interiors of Ndebele houses are typically one large, open space for resting and sleeping, with a small fire pit in the concrete floor, and a long, low bench along one side. • Cooking is usually not done inside, but in a separate building, or outside. • Walls are often decorated in the same decorative style as the exteriors. • Some more modern homes have separate bedrooms and bathrooms.

Slide 8 •The early paintings were geometric and primarily decorative. • Over time, the painters' style developed and began to incorporate imagery from their lives, particularly 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 said that because they want these things for themselves, they paint them on their homes.

Slide 9 • Beadwork is another form of creative expression for Ndebele women. • The colors used have cultural meaning, and the designs can read like a newspaper if you know the code: black for marriage, yellow for wealth, green for contentment, red for love. • Images of commonplace items can frequently be found in beadwork, such as plants, telephone poles, and houses, and letters of the alphabet.

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Great Falls Elementary Art Enrichment – May-June 2017 South African Ndebele People

Slide 10 • The traditional Ndebele people also wear beaded and brass and copper cuffs around their necks, arms and legs. • As soon as a woman gets married – and Ndebele girls are eligible for marriage as young as 15 - she will wear her first neck ring, and with each rite of passage, such as the birth of a child, anniversary of her marriage, new rings will be added. • The rings are considered extremely beautiful, signify a woman’s devotion to her family, and are worn until her husband has passed away.

Slide 11 • Although the traditional blankets, beaded aprons, and neck and leg rings are not worn as much in modern times, the Ndebele women make many commercial items sold as souvenirs in the same style as the originals. • Beaded dolls, necklaces, bracelets, book marks and cups are sold on the side of the road, in stores, and even online now, and are a source of livelihood for Ndebele women.

Slide 12 • Esther Mahlangu has become particularly well-known for her art. Mahlangu is 81, began painting at 10, and was taught mural painting

Esther Mahlangu ouiside her home. by her mother and grandmother. • She has had museum exhibits around the world, including D.C. and Virginia. • She has also created art for companies like 1991 BMW Art Car BMW and Belvedere Vodka, creating both an “art car,” and an “art bottle.” She even painted the car using chicken feathers! Back in South Africa, Mahlangu directs a school which continues the tradition of teaching young Ndebele girls painting and beadwork.

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