Umzi kaMadosini: A Witness Sive Ntombana

by Sive Ntombana

Umzi kaMadosini: A Witness is an exhibition exploring the implementation of Xhosa and Mpondo ways of knowing and being in the world (epistemologies). It navigates trauma (personal and familial) using these ways of knowing and being (concepts and practices) by positioning ukufela ngaphakathi as the perspective, a perspective that becomes an approach to viewing trauma within iilali. 

I use soil pigments on ingcawe as my mediums. The use of soil pigments references ukusula, a mural painting practice Emampondweni used for the inside walls of a rondavel.  

As I practice ndiyosula, ndiyathunuka. Ndithunuka, the trauma narratives that exist within lomzi kaMadosini, ndithunuka by visually recontextualising and complicating (through metaphorically collaging) these narratives, from scenes of home, elalini, and from my family photo album.      

Umzi kaMadosini: A Witness is then not only implementation. Umzi kaMadosini is a witness (‘archive’); it holds truths and secrets close to its chest, like that stashed-away box with letters and a photo album accompanied by time.

Lomzi is longing, longing for relief and longing for healing, for Umzi kaMadosini is me, it is my mother, my uncles, my aunts, my siblings, my cousins and my grandparents.