Mdukatshani - Fifty Years of Beading

A face marked by the struggle of the years, and a gentle faith that never faltered. Elias Mtshengu was the odd-job-man in the village of Waayhoek, and he was struggling to make a living when he heard he had won first prize for a woven copper bowl at the Contemporary Zulu Basketry Exhibition in November 2000. The village cheered. He was a man who had nothing but was always there for anyone in trouble. Once guarding a dead body, waiting for the police, he had been shot at close range in the shoulder. Although the injury made it difficult to lift his arm, it hadn’t prevented him working with Tessa, learning to weave copper wire. Winning his prize would give him release to work full-time as a crafter. Coiled ‘ sungulu ’ bowls became his specialty, a stitch that defeated the weavers at Mdukatshani despite Mtshengu’s attempts to teach them. He had been ill for some time when he started on a bowl using copper and silver in combination. It would be his last. He finished the bowl with an effort of will and, died in hospital early in March 2012. He was 67.

And that might have been the end of the bowls had it not been for Marisa Fick-Jordan (See page 31). Marisa was on a visit to the farm when she caught a glimpse of the khambas . She was dazzled. Six months later, in November 2000, she launched the bowls at an exhibition of Contemporary Zulu Basketry* at the Alliance Française in Johannesburg. Soon afterwards we were commissioned to make eight large bowls for ‘Bowled Over’, an exhibition at the Oxo Gallery, London, which was opened by Nelson Mandela as part of a ‘Celebrate South Africa Festival’. There have been many exhibitions since, the bowls gradually evolving from beaded to pure metal- another development that happened by chance through a meeting with Julia Meintjes (See page 40). Julia was assembling an art collection for a mining house in Sydney, Australia, when she came across our khambas at the ‘Beautiful Things’ exhibition put together for the World Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002. Within two years she had Mzonzima Dladla attempting a small bowl in 18 carat gold wire. Today our crafters weave gold, silver, copper and brass wire in a collaborative project, known as Threads of Africa. But that is another story. * Baskets or bowls – the names are interchangeable

In May 2001 the bowls were exhibited at ‘Bowled Over’ an exhibition at the Oxo Gallery, London, which was opened by Nelson Mandela. The bowls were subsequently bought for permanent display at South Africa House where they were again on exhibit in June 2019.

The invitation to the Contemporary Zulu Basketry Exhibition which launched our copper bowls in November 2000. Every bowl sold and Elias Mtshengu went to Johannesburg to receive first prize.

Mdukatshani – Fifty Years of Beading

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