Unxantathu “Triangle”, 2025
Rust and acrylic on canvas
78,5 cm x 109 cm x 150 cm
Artist’s Statement
This work forms part of the body of works titled “Umphako Wendlela”, which is a Zulu phrase translated to “Provision for a journey”. This phrase is a response to the things that I have taken from home with me, including the knowledge, rust from my father’s old metal works and stories that were told on my family’s grass mat. The mythology and the history of the Dingiswayo lineage. The sound and vibration made by the mines that surrounded my community.
This body of work is inspired by my upbringing, which includes ancestral archetypes, mythology and African folktales, as well as an investigation into far history and middle history, while also shadowing my contemporary. Recently, I’ve had a longing to learn about the Dingiswayo, a longing to uncover the Zulu legends and the ancestors they speak about in the history books that connect to my family lineage. For this uncovering of my family history, I had to start from my father, who is connected with the Dingiswayo lineage.
I begin my search with where I am from, which is Dannhauser, a mining community in KwaZulu-Natal. My first point of access to my history is my father, who is a steelworker. At home, when the mines blasting goes off, there is a storage space that shakes all the metal works and metal items that my father has collected over the years. So when I come out of that space and travel to other spaces, my memory of home comes in glimpses of things shaking, mimicking the sound of that metal storage. Within these installations, the sound comes from moving the string under the enamel cup. This sound, the stories on grass mats and the folklore from my community are the provisions for my journey.
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