Inspiration

The Living Grave Series is a commentary based on miscarriage narratives. As previously stated, 10 to 25 percent of documented pregnancies result in a miscarriages, and this number is even higher when it comes to younger girls, predominately in cases of child marriages.

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S (2019).  The Living Grave Series. Beaded neckpiece. 

Due to the sensitivity of the subject, I have decided to reply mainly on the Series title as a director for the viewer, similarly to the narrative design principles expressed by Metcalf and adopted by Byrne.  I have listed below my design outputs.

a. Fold-formed version
b. Beaded version

Beaded version

For the beaded version of The Living Grave Series, I had also decided to use the same concept of the v shape when structuring the piece, as seen in figure 1. Once again trying not to create a morbid manifestation of the narrative, I chose to place the emphasis of how this unborn seed (a bead) is attached to this piece anchoring its development and forming part of who she will become. 

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S (2019). The living grave series, beaded neckpiece.  

For the third version of the series seen in figure 2, I wanted to play with the idea of that there are all these women who all have had a unborn soul attached to them and although they may come from different walks of life, their pain somehow makes them through their grief. I tried to express the idea of the many unborn children through the use of the multiple and the lives of the women is expressed through the weaving which goes in multiple directions yet meeting at certain points in the formation.  

Figure 2: Ndongeni, S (2018). The Living grave series, Silver and red beaded neckpiece.

What kind of Imagery and symbolism have I used?

I had gone on to expand on the labola concept by first designing a cow’s head using the Rhino design programme, I did this with the intentions of printing the cow head so that it would be the most dominate feature in the piece of jewellery which I would make. I have included some of the initial CAD/CAM drawings of the cow head.

Ndongeni, S. (2018) CAD/CAM Cow head

The reason for making the cow the focal point is that it is my way of expressing the idea of it being the most important feature. 

How is her work similar to mine?

The Caged bird Poem

For this poem I had decided to start it off as a reflective moment, hence the question 'how am I to fly on broken wings? ' This was meant to imply moment of 'what now?'
The idea behind being broken, it is meant to express how she may feel that her worth has somehow depreciated, due to how society views broken things as having no value or as being of a lesser value. The repetition of those words was also meant as a way of emphasising that she may no longer feel as those she can function to het fullest or original capacity, hence being unable to fly.
The next aspect revealed is the fact that the act of breaking her was deliberate. This is sometimes the case when it comes to forced marriages or marriages which as a product of ukutwala, they may try by either emotional or physical means to cause the girl/woman to feel as though her worth has already depreciated, so that she won't try to leave. This is done through rape, physically beating the women, emotionally threatening her of the fact that if she left she will be viewed as an outcast.

After hearing these stories, I had decided to write the poem from the perspective og a young girl, who feel broken both in terms of worth and wothin her soul, therefore no longer being able to view both her life and life as before. She is hence caged by the husband, her own brokenness and by the community. Hence the poem speaks not just of a cage, but her broken wing. 

The Evolution of a Queen

In an earlier post I had written, I had posted about an item of jewellery worn by a Game of Thrones character (see link https://jewellersbride.blogspot.com/2019/06/daenerys-targaryen.html?m=1)
I came across this video which gives a brief flash of how this character once exchanged by her brother for personal gain, decided she would not be defeated by the life circumstances of her marriage, but instead rose to be a loved Queen.

I guess this is an example of when a person refuses to allow life to defeat them. 

Caged Bird

The concept of the 'Caged bird' narrative, is a concept of a cage being like an actual prison, as it is restrictive in nature, restricting the physical, mental, social etc. These are the general feelings associated with a cage or a prison, as seen in the picture below.

Man in prison

 There video below is meant to display birds in flight, the reason why I chose it is that I want show the contrast between the depressing picture of prison and that of a bird flying. Usually birds symbolize flight, freedom, movement, exploring and by nature able to reach new heights.

The broken wings, would then represent the prison, since a bird with a broken wing would be restricted from knowing the freedom it ks accustomed to.


Man in prison URL:https://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-typical-day-in-jail.htm
Birds in flight URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1wp1RnC7kk

Quick thoughts

After the previous posts based on my artworks I began to do a similar write up based on my B. Tech narrative works. As I began to reflect on the symbols, metaphors and the words I had used; I realised that with some of the pieces and poems, I completely pushed the boundaries, or at least mine.

The above picture is an example of what I mean by pushing the boundaries. The picture was one of the artworks, if I can call it that, that I had made a few years ago. When I had initially chose it  from the stuff in the box, I felt that it would be a perfect reference point for my suicide pieces. However, after doing the suicide version of it, I started to find even the pieces to be more than going beyond the box.

I suddenly feel that my topic in itself is pushing in terms of a bridal narrative, and to add suicide in the mix, it sounds a bit morbid. I wanted realistic, to show the millions of narratives swept under the carpet, i finally realise why they are swept under the carpet. Nobody wants to associate marriage, bridal, umakoti etc with sadness and anything negative; hence the fairytales. 

The creation and development

In order to produce this jewellery item, I have tried to unify the histories of both the client and the black tulip flower. I have therefore incorporated the following aspects: the meaning behind the flower, it’s leaves, petals and especially its historical significance. I have tried to depict the couple’s journey of love through the floral arrangement design, which has a circular form on top. This circular design embodies their journey from a youthful love, which was perfected over time. 

After I had figured out how I would incorporate domes in to my design my design. I then went on to making my silver prototype. The pictures below are my process pictures for the silver part of the manufacturing.

Figure 2: Ndongeni, S (2029) Silver elements. 

Since I had to take platinum weight into account when designing, I had to weigh each element so as not to exceed the actual amount which I will recieve.

Figure 3: Ndongeni, S (2019). Abstract flower ring prototype

Figure is a picture of is the ring prototype and the element which I will use when beading. Figure 3 is the silver ring prototype version of the tulip concept and figure 4 is the silver bracelet concept idea based on the poem.

Figure 4: Ndongeni, S (2019). Abstract flower bracelet prototype

Til death do us part (part 2)

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I then decided to use actual rope, so that I could play around with the concept further, I melted the bottom, added beaded work, I got creative with it. This then gave me the idea that I should use some form of imagery which would represent a women, without it being too graphic in nature. I then thought of the most obvious symbol for a woman, which is a flower.

I then  though that instead of just having the flower hanging at one end, I could tell a story or make my comment by having this flower image at one end of the rope, and a beaded female figure beaded onto the other end.

 I still have to work out the actual poem, but the idea behind it is that, she started off as a flower, and the ground she was forced to live in was the death of her. Something along those lines, I still have process it and the design itself.

Development

I had been trying to figure out how I could redesign the piece seen in the picture on the left and I decided to try to use a wire frame as a border which I could use to strengthen the bird form, as seen in the picture on the left.

I still have yet to improve on the idea as I develop it further, but i do like where it is so far.

Slave chain development

In my previous post I shared a further development on the slave by another name is a rose poem. What I tried to achieve at this phase of the exploration was trying to make the chain look more like a slave chain, I did this by adding some texture some of the jumprings. This texture was created by creating hammer marks onto wire which I then turned into jumprings. The picture on the right is a where I left it off for now.

It's a bird thing

bird narrative in pictures

During the week I had been playing around with the ides of creating a simplified concept of the caged bird narrative. So I thought about the idea of having a 3 piece set which would depict this narrative. The set would comprise of a bird flying, a bird either about to land showing onw wing or a grounded bird, and finally the last bird would be caged. I started off with getting some references of birds over the internet , this is when I came across a picture of a caged women, which in turn gave me the idea that maybe I could create a anti-climax in my narrative if the third piece in the set was in stead a picture of a caged little girl rather than a caged bird.

I just felt that this would speak volumes and give the final punch to the message. I have included some pictured of the rough piercing ideas I was still working around with. 

caged girl working ideas

Let's play

In the name of exploring, I decided to see how the silhouettes would look like on clay. So as you can see in the picture below,I have pressed the pierced out metal onto the clay.   

Ndongeni, S. (2016) Clay exploration

I have also decided to play around with the various shapes I pressed the shapes on.  

Once these have dried up,I will place them in the kiln and then paint them.