Expressing the ancestors.

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="042085a3.jpg"> <div> <I><B>African Shaman</B></I></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="043d2e83.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="African Shaman : Specialists in African "><U><B><IMG SRC="08a78140.png" border=0 width="120" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.africanshaman.com/shop" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.africanshaman.com/shop"><U><IMG SRC="07f78140.png" border=0 width="120" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles :"><U><IMG SRC="08678140.png" border=0 width="120" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us :"><U><IMG SRC="08878140.png" border=0 width="120" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04407073.jpg"> <div> Expressing the ancestors.</div> <div> by Y. Winters</div> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> This essay attempts to indicate some of the parallels between artists and diviners in Zulu society in order to show the influence of the amaDlozi on artistic expression. Many Zulu artists, (like most Zulu lay-persons) still believe in the existence of their ancestral-spirits (even if they are nominal Christians) and this original belief was an experience of the efficacy of the ancestors. The amaDlozi choose a descendant to express through, traditionally such a chosen person is called to become a diviner but very often such a chosen person is told to carve or paint. It is said that an iDlozi chooses his/her most favored descendant  to become a diviner or artist(thus often the spirit-guide of  a diviner /artist is a grandparent who favored the child in life). It is considered that a talent (any talent but in this case an artistic one) is a "gift from the ancestors". Most present-day Zulu readily acknowledged such a gift as coming from God but it is mediated via the ancestors. As in the case of diviners, the call is often marked by a period of extreme disorientation (nervous breakdown) although there are many artists who were simply `chosen from birth’ in a family of artists. For many artists it is the actual process of carving or painting which expatiates their confused state of mind and acts to `cure’ them(similar to the trainee iTwasa who dances and dreams to `strengthen’ him/herself to become a diviner.) The final recognition of an artist as a man/woman of talent  is the purchase or demand for his/her work (ironically dependent upon the western art-world) and this can be equated to the diviner’s `coming-out’ rite.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> These statements may appears extreme assumption, but a consideration of some artists/sculptors life-stories will help illustrate the source of  the assertion that artists lives parallel those of diviners. It must be cautioned that in Zulu culture there is no cultural convention (as for diviners)for an artist's `calling’, `training’ and `coming-out’, although tradition does accord  a period of training for carvers and those with   talent are thought  singularly blessed by their ancestors and thus `different' from  ordinary persons.  Such traditional beliefs are retained subliminally in the psyche of African Christians but their lives are clouded by the conflicts of denying `spiritism' ( spirit-possession) and  many artists bare the brunt of this conflict if they come from an orthodox Christian family. Thus not all African artists will claim to be guided by an ancestral-spirit or experience an artistic career as a `calling’, however  some who belong to Zionist churches or Charismatic Christian groups   claim rather God, the angles or the Holy Spirit as their source of artistic inspiration. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> It seems that at least some traditionalist Zulu diviners were also artists or sculptors, one thinks of Laduma Madela in this regard. Of the craftswoman making dolls and soft sculptures for the tourist market (  born into traditionalist homes and  using  traditional techniques), MaSiguphu Zuma, MaKhanyile Zakwe and MaMethlo Mizla(all from Msinga district) are also diviners. Soft sculpture initiator Thembi Mchunu from Inanda is a diviner and the family of the late Sizakele Mchunu claim she was also a diviner. The south coast sculptor, Mizwakhe Mbatha known for his unique wooden airplanes and trains, is a diviner. Persons like the late Tito Zungu, known for his decorated envelopes, was called but did not complete training. Zungu brings to mind artists , like Henry Mshololo ,who were called to train as diviners but who requested the ancestors to `hold-off’ their training for personal reasons (usually poverty but also because they are practicing Christians who cannot integrate the rigors and conflict of being a diviner into their lives.) Certainly it would appear that creative Zulu people are very often also diviners or called to become diviners. Often these artists and diviners are the initiators of new crafts in their community, thus for instance MaSiguphu Zuma was the initiator of very tall costume dolls (taking her cue from traditional fertility dolls in the area) and her dolls possess a character lacking in other women's’ dolls. Thembi Mchunu, doll initiator from Inanda sold her first male doll, Zulu bridegroom, seated drinking beer [MM2252] to the Campbell Collections. The doll found an immediate response from the traditionalist Zulu staff, who declared that," Surely, she was inspired by her ancestors (as no doll so ` quintessentially Zulu' could be the product of a mere mortal)." This indicates another typically Zulu idea, no one `thinks-up’ something unique and original, he/she is inspired to do so by an iDlozi. It is as if the "muse" or "daimon" (gods who inspired and possessed artists and poets in classical Greece) are there in Zulu thinking, except that in Africa they are not gods but ancestors. To reiterate, artistic expression is almost always attributed to the ancestors in Zulu thinking, while Christian Zulu attribute the gift as coming from God. A Zulu will comment on talent, "your amaDlozi (or God) loves you," this is especially so if you are financially successful. Many artists indicate that their neighbours become jealous and work witchcraft against them at these signs of ancestral blessing, ironically diviners also report that other less successful diviners are jealous and place medicines on them so as to bring them bad fortune. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> S’thokoza Cele who paints scenes which concern his Nazareth church of Isaiah Shembe, showed talent for drawing at a young age. His mother’s co-wife found him drawing the church leader Isaiah, and he was told to stop such disrespect immediately. After some training under the Natal Technikon teacher Jeff Chandler, he regained his confidence and again painted the church leaders, selling to the present leader, A K Shembe. His uncle, a devout member of the church had a dream, seeing Amos Shembe (then deceased)blessing the young Cele who knelt before the leader in a passage-way. This uncle then told his nephew that he had , "seen that you (my nephew) have good luck." This dream was taken seriously by Cele  as an indication that he should continue his church paintings as, "God blesses everybody...he blessed me that night (of his uncle’s dream)...he pointed out to me what I must do (in life). When I work I remember my uncle’s dream." When asked where he thought his talent for painting came from Cele said that perhaps it was in the family line but as he did not know his family history he could not say exactly which ancestor had the talent, "it (artistic talent) is from someone (in the family) who inspires you, I can’t say "I am clever, it is me"..now that I am doing something (paintings) for the church.. (I question) where does the talent come from...I am (now) uncertain if it is from my family.. my amaDlozi, or if it is the Spirit of Shembe(himself)." 1    </div> <bR> <bR> <div> One other artist who has received his talent in the family line is Khehla Ngobese. Born in the former Cato Manor shacklands in 1960 he moved with his parents to the then model township of Kwa-Mashu aged two. Both his parents are leaders in the Holy Banner Apostolic Church of Zion. His mother encouraged him in art saying it was a family talent, his mother’s brother having been Arthur Buthelezi, one of the earlier generation of African artists along with Gerard Bhengu and the Ntuli brothers. Ngobese’s work is concerned with Zulu cosmology and cultural values and his meticulous drawings are set in patterned borders which are strongly reminiscent of the neo-ethnic cloth favored by diviners. His work, Umsebenzi (burning imphepho for the ancestors) 1990 [WCP 2762] indicates his concern with keeping ties to the ancestral-spirits, " I am saying each and every African, no matter his education or if he is Christian, must make umsebenzi (burn imphepho) to ask for luck, they ask from the amaDlozi who are near to God". 2 In 1994 Ngobese accompanied a fellow artist who was having a nervous breakdown to the Zionist Christian Church at Pietersburg, there his friend was prayed for and healed, but it was to be a watershed experience for Ngobese himself as a church woman helped him to understand his own, "life’s difficulties and illnesses" and he came to know that his own grandfather’s spirit had lead him to the church. Ngobese explained that he was now accompanied by this grandfather , "I did not know him as a person but from dreams, now I am accompanied by him, but you cannot see him with your eyes(here in this room,with us)." 3.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Trevor Makhoba, an artist who’s work is thought-provoking social comment and satire explained , " I got into Christianity and go now to God." However in the course of explaining his painting, Hamba Mahambane (discussed in former essay) ,which depicts the ancestral spirits as a series of heads, he admitted," In dreams one just sees the head..the face...not the body...the face hides the mind..the message...Yes I experience those dreams, ...(the ancestors) smile or are angry (in the dreams)...for some reason .. (like for example) they were not included in a ceremony..then they will become angry..they are powerful..you can die (or) wake up insane....the ancestors are iziThutha (The Stupids) because they attack you...sometimes they do not warn you (that they will punish you)....(they) do sometimes give you a chance...you slaughter a chicken (and) eat it outside the home.. Each family needs reconciliation...(the ancestors) make children die..they like blood...they are demons. The story of the ancestors ...they do exists (but) for Christians they don’t exist."   Despite Makhoba’s Christian conflict with the ancestors he conceded, "I would say there is a 'spirit' to paint...something pushes me to do it...I put a board up and think what I am going to paint..if nothing comes I go to sleep. (Last night for instance) I dreamt of something I should paint ...In 1980 I went to work in the morning and came back in the evening...some pressure pushed me to paint..I painted (murals on the walls of) the whole house...I did not sleep..I asked a neighbour’s child to hold a candle.. while I painted . The next day my father saw it, he could not enter the house, he was angry and called all the neighbours to look before he made me plaster it over. I am scared myself of this...I (would be) shy for doing this (myself)..a certain `spirit' lead me to do it..It was because my father called the neighbours that my picture and painting (photograph)was printed in the Ilanga newspaper." Makhoba said that other Zulu thought that this incident indicated the presence of his ancestors,and this was even `proved’ by the fact that the newspaper article launched his career as an artist. 4</div> <bR> <bR> <div> The sculptor Henry Mshololo is of particular interest, exemplifying in his life-script the similarities between diviner and artist as well as declaring that his talent comes directly from his maternal grandmother, MaKhumalo, who guides him via dreams. Mshololo was born to an Christian woman and a wealthy traditionalist father who disowned both mother and son (preferring his traditionalist wives),  treatment which caused Mshololo much stress and precipitated an identity crises. At the time Mshololo was working as a flat cleaner on Durban’s Berea, he suddenly left employment without explanation. After some years Mshololo `resurfaced’ as a carver of great talent selling through the African Art Centre in Durban. Mshololo explained the sequence of events from his 'disappearance' to his `return'; he had been instructed by his maternal grandmother’s spirit to go home to Inanda and to retreat into a mountain forest and start carving. This wood-carving became the cure for his `illness’. During this period he had many precognitive dreams as to the course his life would take, his grandmother's spirit accompanying him and often explaining matters of importance in the dreams. Mshololo is also possessed by his grandfather’s spirit but he guides Mshololo to be an inyanga (herbalist). Neither `profession’ required training as both are gifts from the said ancestral-spirits, who he terms "My Ogogo (grandparents `the old ones’)." </div> <bR> <bR> <div> An actual example of a sculpture done under the guidance of his iDlozi is, ubuKhosi (The Kingdom of Talents)[MM5075]. A self -portrait depicting a carver who has succeeded by perseverance, a fact ‘proven’ by the work being sold to the Campbell Collections (as it was declared it would be by his iDlozi in a dream). In the case of his talent as herbalist, Mshololo pointed out that trees which he carves are one and the same as medicines, both being called imithi. Of his divination for sickness he says, "a person will come over here (his home in Inanda) for assistance and I’ll tell the person that he suffers from this or that (illness /problem) without using bones for divining or exorcising. I simply tell a person that, "you have such and such a problem." Mshololo has also been called to become a diviner but has asked the ancestral-spirits to release him from this for the present as he does not have the money to train.6 </div> <bR> <bR> <div> Research assistant Dingani Mthethwa ,accompanied Mshololo and fellow sculptor Johannes Ngcobo on an expedition into the Ndwedwe forest to collect and cut wood for sculpting. The two sculptors set out with the expectation that the ancestral-spirits would lead them to the right tree for felling, Mshololo having been told  in a dream that, "museum people are coming who will make my work known." To the question of how a sculptor selects a tree to carve, Mshololo explained, "The first thing that comes to me is a dream. Many times I see my Ogogo who come in dreams and they show me a tree. Trees like the umthombothi come in a dream (image) (and are) very beautiful,... it depends if the dream comes late in the morning, (then) I record that dream in my mind. But if it comes at midnight, sometimes I (may) forget it but if it comes back, once I see it again I know that it is something I need to work on. Sometimes it does not come as a picture (of a particular specie), a tree (image itself) is enough. As I go to the forest and find a tree ...I will think about what I am going to do (with the wood) even before I start felling the tree." Fellow sculptor Ngcobo expanded on the explanation,"Once you see a beautiful tree like umthombothi or umgonyoza in a dream you know that something (a carved image) is going to come out. You don’t have to wake up and look for that tree, but one day you will be going to the forest and when you see a tree you will remember what you saw in your dream. These trees are beautiful and we like them because they are the best trees for carving in this area. The colour of umthombothi is brownish with some colours (white sap wood) that decorate your work. Sometimes you go to the forest and collect a tree without having dreamt and you keep (the wood) at home ...then one day you are sitting at home not even thinking about carving, you look at the stump (of wood) and you just see a picture of something in that tree (stump). Those are the ancestors showing you what you can do with the stump." On the expedition , when Ngcobo selected an umgonyoza stump in the bush for carving, he questioned Mthethwa,"You see this stump, what do you see when you look at it?" Mthethwa replied, "Nothing, this thing is old and dry, are you going to make something from this?" Ngcobo responded, "You will see! one day when you visit us or you see it at the African Art Centre!.... Look these can be the horns of the deer (buck)...and this can be the mouth (picking up the stump and turning it on its side)." Mshololo however continued walking for a further forty minutes before finding a suitable dead umthombothi tree, according to Ngcobo he needed this wood to make "violins, birds and deer." Upon spotting the tree, Mshololo declared," This is the tree we have been looking for! Lets sit down and rest before cutting it." Mshololo then prepared himself ,first relaxing and smoking marijuana before  taking a monkey-skin loin-covering from Mthethwa (who had been carrying it by wearing it into the bush)which  he put on before climbing into the tree to start chopping. He had explained to Mthethwa that this ritual was to help create the correct respect for nature and tree-felling. Later Mshololo commented,"The ancestors are always in me. When I think, they are there in my mind, so whatever I will be thinking, even if they (the ancestors) do not come in a dream, they can just make me think what I will do with this log (just cut). You see, I do not work (at a job in the City)and they do not want me to work!. I used to work cleaning flats and I also worked in sugar-cane plantations, but they(the ancestors) told me that my work is to sit down and think. I will not rush, I will keep these logs until I think what to do with them."7</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Mshololo's ritual preparation to cut wood is of particular interest because it stems from his knowledge as an iNyanga, this in itself indicates the notable psychic integration of the experiential world of Zulu diviners, artists/sculptors and medicine-men. 8  Even Mshololo's comments about `work' are of value in understanding the role of the ancestors in the lives of Zulu. In a South Africa socially structured so that many rural Zulu are and were ill equipped educationally (Mshololo has a Standard6)  to find any but menial and migrant work ,this call by the ancestors to `go home' (reportedly experienced by other artists and diviners), `quit  work' and `find themselves' in their   traditional calling (as artist/sculptor and diviner),can be said to be a `political statement' on the part of the said ancestors. The ancestors are often accused of doing nothing towards the plight of their descendents in the modern world, certainly this indicates that they have often given their descendents the courage to change their relationship to this world when they inspire their descendents to find `creative' sources of income. Needless to say, from a psychological perspective one would readily concede to a process of self-actualization on the part of this category of person.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>____________________________________________________________</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles :"><U>Return to Articles</U></A>.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>