Introduction

As I will be using the Xhosa umakoti narrative for Chapter 3, it was important that I investigate Xhosa beadwork so as to go gain design background. I therefore visited the East London Museum and interviewed one of the anthropologists from the museum, who gave me a lot of historical facts concerning the Xhosa people especially their beadwork. This process allowed me better under some of the relevant terms and types of beading done within the Xhosa community, these will be addressed below.

As with any group of people, there are specific symbolisms held by each bead and inversely each beadwork, therefore the creators need to be aware of these when creating narrative work to produce a relevant piece  (Cosser, 2018; Glenda, 2018). Interestingly enough, even the various shapes and forms included in the overall design will influence the message the weaver may be trying to portray within the desired beadwork (Lidia D, 1998).

Figure1 Artist Unrecorded. Mid-20th century. Xhosa Collar. Glass seed beads. (ONLINE)

The earliest documented Xhosa beadwork dates back to the 1820^[1]s; in those days beads were a precious commodity and therefore were exclusive to the wealthy and were a sign of status, and it was also then included as part of a woman’s dowry.

Figure 10 is a picture of a traditional Xhosa collar which was crafted in the mid-20th century; it is currently part of the Wits Art Museum collection. Traditionally Xhosa beadwork was made from seeds of the coral tree, shell, bone or ivory, claws, and teeth.

One of the most predominant colours found in Xhosa beadwork is white, and most of the Xhosa beadwork designs use open as this allows for the beadwork to drape over the body to  act as a covering (Anon., n.d.).

Xhosa Fertility Charms

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S (2019). Xhosa Fetility Charms. 

According to Nandipha (Nandipha, 2019), an anthropologist at the East London Museum, it was a common practice amongst the Bantu speaking people to present a bride a doll as it was believed that it would aid her with child bearing. The bride was to then keep this doll with her at all times until the point when she was able to conceive. The picture below is an example of traditional dolls work by married women.

Figure 2: Ndongeni, S (2019). Xhosa Fertility Charms Display, East London Museum.

While at the museum, I had found that there was a lot of symbolic imagery used within the traditional Xhosa beadworks. I will however be only discussing those which are relevant this research report. 

Figure 3: Ndongeni, S. (2019). Xhosa love dolls , East London Museum.

The Xhosa love dolls in figures 1 to 3 were traditional worn by young girls who had the "misfortune" of not receiving a marriage proposal. These were not made by the young woman themselves, but were however made by old woman and were then to be secretly worn around the neck, until such a time the young girl received a marriage proposal.

These dolls were believed to have the ability to attract a husband.These dolls would therefore fall under the classification of spiritual jewellery. 

Xhosa beadwork from East London Museum

During my time at home in East London, I had visited the East London museum to get some information about the Xhosa people. I had an interesting conversation with one of the anthropologists from the museum, who gave me a lot of historical facts concerning the Xhosa people especially their beadwork. 

Ndongeni, S. (2019). Xhosa beadwork Exhibition. 

 The display in figure 1 forms part of several displays that are dedicated to exhibiting Xhosa beadwork. I have also included a closeup picture of the painting which was placed above the display as it shows drawings of Xhosa people wearing their jewellery.

 

As I will be using Xhosa bridal narrative as one of the bases for my chapter 3, it is important to understand some of the relevant Xhosa beadworks in terms of how they have used it in order to express their various narratives.
I will be discussing these under the headings listed below. 

a.       Which Issues are they addressing in their beadwork?

b.       How do they deal with them?

                                 i.      Which materials have they used and why?

                                  ii.            Which Techniques have they used?

                                iii.            What kind of Imagery and symbolism have theyused?

c.       How is their work similar to mine?

Experiment Two

Ndongeni, S. (2018) Red seed beaded safety pin neckpiece

In wanting to modernize or to reinterpret the usage of safety pins in order to create a narrative, I chose to experiment with the safety pins on a much larger scale to grow from the beaded Xhosa heart keepers which I had done in the pictures above. I felt that I had to use the idea of safety pins in my work due to the significance it hold for the new makoti and the wife throughout her life as umakoti in the Xhosa culture.

I still have to however develop this idea further, which I believe I will be able to do once I have written a poem or have a concept which to which I can draw inspiration from.  I therefore decided that instead o I would play around with the layout of the safety pins in the meantime. This would later help me out with the design process as I would have an idea as to how to what scales to use, how to join the pins and how much room would I have to depict my concepts or deigns.                                   

What kind of Imagery and symbolism have they used?

Ndongeni, S (2019). Xhosa Fertility Charms Display, East London Museum.b

While at the museum, I had found that there was a lot of symbolic imagery used within the traditional Xhosa beadworks. I will however be only discussing those which are relevant this research report. 

Ndongeni, S. (2019). Xhosa love dolls , East London Museum. 

The Xhosa love dolls in the picture above were traditional worn by young girls who had the "misfortune" of not receiving a marriage proposal. These were not made by the young woman themselves, but were however made by old woman and were then to be secretly worn around the neck, until such a time the young girl received a marriage proposal.

These dolls were believed to have the ability to attract a husband.These dolls would therefore fall under the classification of spiritual jewellery. 

Colour

As colour carries meaning and may hold close association to certain things varying from culture to culture, it would be important for the designer to keep these in mind when designing. The report will discussing the meaning of colour as pertaining the Xhosa culture in the section to follow which is dedicated to Xhosa beadwork.

Xhosa keepers

Figure Xhosa woman wearing a Keeper. (ONLINE) Figure 1  Xhosa woman wearing a Keeper. (ONLINE)[1]

Figure 2 Xhosa woman wearing a Keeper. (ONLINE)

The woman in the picture above is wearing a Xhosa traditional Keeper which depicts the stage she is now in as a Xhosa wife. The triangles symbolize an older married woman, and the fact that the woman in the Keep has no legs is an indication that the woman wearing the keeper feels that she is worn out at this stage in her life and she, therefore, will not have any use for her legs.