Zulu Weaving, Zulu Culture, & the Global Imagination
November 11, 20232:00 PM - 4:00 PM
An immersive celebration of South African Zulu weaving and vibrant culture featuring presentations and conversation between Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi and Dr. Elizabeth Perrill.
Dr. Mhlambi will be presenting his body of work called “Zulu Song Cycle.” Unlocking cultural ties, Zulu Song Cycle is, in part, a compilation of songs that draw on the spirits and cultural legacy of the KwaZulu-Natal region.
Dr. Perrill will be discussing her approach to art historical and contemporary research in South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal. Based in life-history methodologies, Perrill’s work has been grounded in conversations with isiZulu-speaking artists since 2003. She will discuss how this work informs her curatorial practice and the collaborative film project that was undertaken this summer in and around the Durban metropolitan area.
This event is in anticipation of the Museum of International Folk Art’s upcoming fall 2024 exhibition iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa.
The first major exhibition of telephone-wire art in any North American museum, Weaving Meanings brings together several significant collections generously donated to the museum by David Arment. Guest curator Dr. Elizabeth Perrill, one of the world’s foremost experts on Zulu ceramics, brings to the project over 15 years of experience collaborating with artists in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and 25 years of engaged research in Southern Africa.
Learn more about the project here:
FREE with RSVP to Eventbrite at: https://zuluweavingandculture.eventbrite.com/
To request ASL Interpretation contact Patricia Sigala by November 6 at: patricia.sigala@dca.nm.gov
Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi is a musician and cultural thinker who has a strong sense of community and how the local and global connect. Building artistic visions using an internationalist methodology, Mhlambi uses his art and exhibitions in order to convey African stories and philosophies. He has been a visiting artist at Cite Internationale Des Arts in Paris and at universities in Germany, Finland, and Brazil. Mhlambi recently returned from an Artist Fellowship at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, where he was developing new work using ancient Zulu idioms.
Dr. Elizabeth Perrill is a professor of art histories at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The author of two monographs, Zulu Pottery (2012) and Burnished: Zulu Ceramics between Urban and Rural South Africa (2022), Perrill has been working in South Africa, and specifically KwaZulu-Natal province since 2004, where she is currently leading a Modern Endangered Archives Project grant sponsored through the UCLA libraries and Arcadia, a London-based charitable foundation.
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