Coming of Age

Zana ‘Ndebele Superhero’ Masombuka's project "Isizungu: Demystifying Isolation" explores the declining use of indigenous practices in Southern Africa, with a particular focus on the region's indigenous herbs and plants. It draws a parallel between the lack of use of these plants and herbs in contemporary society and feelings of social isolation, bringing forth questions of sustainability within the African context and highlighting how traditional indigenous practices can inform the continent's response to the crisis of global warming and other socio-economic and environmental issues.

The project is based on the research of Ben Erik Van Wyk (People's Plants: A guide to useful plants of Southern Africa), Credo Mutwa (Indaba My Children), Siyakha Mguni (Termites of the Gods: San Cosmology in Southern African Rock Art), Anthony Nyong et al. (The Value of Indigenous Knowledge in Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies in the African Sahel) and Julia Watson (Lo-Tek Design: Design by Radical Indigenism) as well as extensive oral history from foraging excursions with Ndebele historian Benzi Mahlangu-Masombuka, amongst others.

Their teachings assert that changes from subsistence farming to cash-crop production, migrant labor and environmental degradation have severely eroded Southern Africa's indigenous knowledge base, with communities trading in their sustainable, nature-centered lifestyle for a more exploitative and consumerist Western approach. At the same time, incorporating indigenous knowledge can add value to the development of sustainable climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies that are rich in local content and planned in conjunction with local people, allowing communities to work with resources that are available to them, without relying heavily of imported technologies.

In her performances and installations, Masombuka emphasizes the importance of indigenous practices by using plants that are native to Southern Africa and have historically been used by the region's indigenous people. The project uses the juxtaposition of warm and cold tones and colors, of the natural and the alien, of black and white to explore themes of isolation, further emphasized by the artist's repurposing of Ndebele symbols and metaphors, such as the wooden bead ring ("Is'rholwane esingana mcamo") around the figure's head, traditionally worn without beads by the relatives of a deceased family member to signify mourning, further emphasized here by the artist covering the ring in black paint. The ritualistic removal of the beads speaks to the manifested space of physical, emotional and mental isolation that families often find themselves when a loved one has died. In the work, however, the subject wears the ring to cover her head, thus amplifying the solitude experienced in this period of mourning.

The yellow/ocre in the images signifies the process of shedding ("uKuhlubuka") and its inevitable isolation, emulating a snake's shedding of its skin at the end of winter, awaiting summer. The warmer tones evoke feelings of warmth, vulnerability, renewal and protection during the shedding, acting as a metaphor and encouraging the audience not to fear their own unbecoming in times of isolation. This part of the project emphasizes a framework of evolution through indigeneity and development in isolation.

Isizungu exists in two parallel worlds, modernity and indigeneity, juxtaposed with one another and reflecting a space many of us straddle and move between today. The work projects possibilities of the two working together in order to further reveal what we know about ourselves and our humanity, calling attention to isolation and shedding as necessary anchors in the creation of self and of new worlds, where we regain balance within ourselves and the communities we are part of.

Works

The second body of work featuring in Coming of Age is Lloyd Foster's 2019 photo series "Two Worlds, Same Energy." In the artist's reflections on his own coming-of-age growing up and playing basketball in the Washington, D.C. area, he recalls shared experiences with youth he met in Accra, the capital of Ghana, a country predominantly known for soccer in the realm of sports. "Two Worlds, Same Energy" highlights some young basketball talents from the Madina neighbourhood of Accra who - motivated by the success of professional African basketball players such as Hakeem Olajuwon, Joel Embiid and Serge Ibaka - are striving to write their own story.

"Two Worlds, Same Energy" is inspired by a short documentary film Foster co-produced about a basketball game local to the Washington D.C. community in which every player plays alone and the first one to score 33 points wins. Titled "33 | DCs Game," the film may be read as a precursor to the series and aims to preserve D.C. history visually and orally amidst many of the changes the community has endured over the years.

During his visit to Ghana, Foster started connecting with local basketball players when one of them, who had seen the "33" trailer online, told him that he and his friends were interested in learning the rules for 33 and started playing the game themselves. Foster was curious about how their relationship with and through basketball would be different to his own experiences and how basketball acted as a bridge, opening up links between the two communities in Washington, D.C. and Accra. With the striking similarities of their play-action and the likeness of spirit in the game, the only thing really separating these players was an ocean.

The series "Two Worlds, Same Energy" was featured in the 9th edition of Photoville FENCE, a travelling exhibition displayed in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Calgary, Denver, Durham, Houston, New Orleans, Sarasota, Seattle and Winchester.

Works

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