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My Basket J Mahlasela
Durban Gallery |
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hen you enter the gallery at the Durban Art Gallery to see the ‘Art Of Northern KwaZulu-Natal’ exhibition, you stop in your tracks immediately. To your right is a huge aeroplane made out of tin cans. To the left is a model of a BMW made by Muzikayise Zwane from wire that is so close to the original – from the tyres that are made out of those from bicycles to the actual number plate – that even the car manufacturer would be flabbergasted.
The items on show are anything but the trinkets on the sides of roads with which we are so familiar. Although the exhibition does include the more traditional calabashes, fighting sticks, telephone wire items, meat platters, brooms and sticks, dolls and beadwork, these are of a whole new standard. Similarly, so-called everyday items such as shoes and bags move from simple clothing to works of art.
Many of these pieces come with special stories. The tin can aeroplanes are the work of Sibusiso “Punch” Mbhele who apparently fell in love with aeroplanes as a schoolboy after his first opportunity to see one close up. He started turning out planes and helicopters using flattened tin cans and has perfected this art into adulthood.
According to the curator, this artist actually lives his work. His current home, which has taken ten years to build and is not yet complete, is an aeroplane and is made from scrap metal and wrecked taxis. His first home, which was a helicopter, collapsed when he tried to move it to a new site!
Another breathtaking piece is an incredible sailing ship made out of match sticks, paper and string in 2005 by Khosini Dhladhla. Creating objects out of matches is a popular hobby for boys in the area.
However, it is not just these larger pieces that are worth a look. Magnificent items, using intricate beadwork on creative knitting designs, add a whole new dimension to what must have started out as conventional knitted or crocheted items. The pieces on show are the work of students of Rose van Waardenberg whose fascinating life story begins with her birth on the Island of Java. After surviving the Japanese internment camps during the Second World War, she became an art needlework teacher. After marrying, she followed her husband to Ballengeich, just outside Newcastle.
Intricate pieces using discarded items made from paper, plastic and rubber are also worth a mention. Siscelo Ziqubu, whose work received extensive publicity at the Fresh Paint Gallery, has the Grass Hooper Green Dance chair made from layered paper on exhibition.
Another beautiful art work made from recycled materials is a bowl made from sweet papers, chip packets and nylon by Mbongisani Nxumalo. Apparently, used objects provide materials that are both more accessible and affordable for the local community. Plastic bags are cut into strips and woven together to make mats and handbags which are frequently found on sale on our streets. Nxumalo takes this a step further.
With more than 100 items on show – from Sipho Mkhize’s cheeky Kaizer Chief Head which comprises the bust of a National Party politician sporting a plastic helmet, glasses and a vuvuzela to a magnificent studded bowl created from copper wire, metal and glass beads by the Mdukashani Craft Group – it is difficult to take in everything.
This exhibition continues until the end of March.
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