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.                                   

The Ilobola Series

One of the major inspirations for this specific series was a documentary I had watched based on child marriages in Africa. There was this one particular interview which was the core basis of thought. This young girl had actually said that she felt as though her father has valued the cows more than he had valued her life.

This is actually a popular idea  within the Native African cultures where a father would view a son as a legacy as it would be through him the family line would be expand and it would be through the marriage of his daughter he would be able to enlarge his kraal or wealth. Although this may not be how all fathers view their children, it has been then experience of many children and especially young girls who have been forced to marriages and I just this to be an appalling practice. I have tried to convey this in the poem below:

Figure 1: Ndongeni, S (2016). Rendering of A daughter's heart ring-pendant.

A Daughter’s heart

Ndingumtu(I am a person), with dreams and desires

Ndingumtu, with a heart

 Through you rip it

Still, Ndingumtu

What price have you placed on a lifetime?

Placed on a life time

Placed on a memory

Placed on the heart that loves you

What price have you received?

 So I could love you no more?

Tata, when did you teach your heart to love no more?

Tata, when did you teach your heart to forget ndiyinyanma negazi lakho (your very flesh and blood)

To forget my heart yinhliziyo yakho (is your very heart)

Tata (daddy), when did you teach your heart to no longer see a daughter in me?

In order to deal with the issues addressed in this series, I will discuss as follows:

a. Design concept one

b. Design concept two

How is her work similar to mine?

What kind of Imagery and symbolism has she used?

As previously stated, the main focus of Stuntman's narrative works are women and she therefore relies on a lot of imagery which will depict the various aspects of created womenhood in order to express her narrative. 

Figure 26 Figure 27 Barbara Stutman, (1996) Stacking Reality Brooch. [ONLINE]

In her series entitled "Stacking Realities",  as seen above; she has created a womanlike figurine with a tray attached to her. 

Figure 28 Stutman, B (1993). One Being Female. Brooch [ONLINE]

Her work is a creative collection which uses a vast number of imageries all centred on that specific subject matter. An example of this is the 4 part brooch taken from her "One Being Female" series. With these Brooches, she has incorporated the use of tampons alongside fine silver, Spandex, colouredcopper wire, brass and copper. 

Figure 29 Stutman, B. (1998) It’s a girl! 2 Fine silver and coloured copper ring. [ONLINE]

She sometimes also used shoes, specifically high hills in order to mock media for their false idea of their ideal women.

As seen in the three examples provided, she has relied on the usage of various imagery based on the specific subject matter, but all pertaining to  women. 

Which Techniques has she used?

In her work, Stuntman predominantly ues techniques such as embroidery, weaving, crocheting and knitting, techniques which were traditionally used by women. She uses these specific techniques as juxtaposition tools in order express her views on women to the world.  

Figure 27, is an example of her work taken from the “Impaired Vision” series.

 Figure 27 Stutman, B. (1997) Sugar and Spice: Must we be Nice? Brooch. [ONLINE]^[1]

In this piece she has chosen to use both knitting and crocheting as her main techniques. With this series, she was attempting to depict how media does not give a true portrayal of women, but however uses devices in order to create insecurities within women in order to further thier own agendas. 

According to Rachel Felder, one of the authors of the online publication Good Housekeeping; red lipstick is "unique combination of boldness, strength, and self-assured sexiness". However these are all ideologies which have been placed into the human psyche through media through out history. 

She has skillfully used these techniques closely associated with women to almost ask "is this really what you want women to focus on?" With the aid of her material selection she was able to further emphasis judgement of media for their depiction of the women. 

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[1]Available at: http://www.barbarastutman.com/works/impaired.php 

How does she deal with them?

Figure 25 Stutman, B. (1996) How to Become a Woman Parts 1-3 Brooches. [ONLINE]

The picture above, is from the four part series entitled, “Negotiating Identity”.  It is a three set made from fine silver, copper, nickel silver and polyurethane. In this series, she uses her work as a vehicle to narrate the negative ways in which mass media distorts women through ongoing processes. She once again uses her jewellery to show how women can be influenced to become whatever the media tries to paint them to become.

The piece is entitled “How to Become a Woman, Parts 1-3”.  She is in a way mocking how the identity of the woman has been formed both traditionally and by media. In order to guide her audience she has relied not just on the imagery, but the titles of both the series and the pieces as an aid.

Caged bird formation

Emily Christiana Bryne

In her work, Bryne's main aim is to use her narrative jewellery as a means to engage with the wearer and her audience.

Engagement ring, understanding connection. (2009)

The jewellery item designed by Bryne is one of her earlier experiments where she was trying to explore the concept of connection and ways in which she could depict it using jewellery. I have chosen the above picture as it embodies the concept of expressing a narrative using contemporary jewellery. As it focuses more on the narrative it is meant to depict to an audience.

What I have found to be interesting about this piece is how it allows for an actual physical connection to another person. She went even further with her exploration by including an actual microphone as part of the ring design. This would then enable a person's heartbeat to be heard when placed on their heart, which will be then transmitted through the heartbeat she has created.

I have found the design to have taken many elements and thoughts into consideration, not simply relying on the mind of the viewer to dissect the designer's meaning.

1. Which Issues does she address in her work?
2. How does she deal with them?

                                 i.            Which materials has she used and why?

                               ii.            Which Techniques has she used?

                              iii.            What kind of Imagery and symbolism has she used?

• How is her work similar to mine?

Poetry as a Narrative

All poetry is narrative as each word or line expresses a message. As defined in the beginning section of Narratives poetry, poetry uses language to express its chosen perspective of reality. Using poetry devices such as metaphor, rhyme meter, etc; the poet can transfer thought, feeling, and experience.

Traditional poems focused attention to rhyme structure, rhythm, and other poetry devices, while the more modern narrative poems tend to break those traditional rules and may even have no specific rhyme within the poem itself. However, one common reality that remains though is that it tells a story, it provides brief or intense descriptions concerning the subject matter and is ultimately more dramatized, unlike the other poetry classifications.

This report has therefor defined poetry any given emotion, thought or situation. As a painter would use their colour and art principles in order to create  a specific feeling or portrayal of a subject in order to engage with an audience, so does a poet with words. However, they would use poetic principles in order to achieve this.

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. 

Narrative Jewellery

One of the most prominent jewellers when it comes to contemporary narrative jewellery is Professor Jack Cunningham. In addition to being a contemporary studio jeweller, he is a curator and an academic, who has made a huge contribution to the field. The picture below is part of a series by Cunningham entitled: “The Great Barrier” (Commentaire, 2013). 

Figure 1 –Withycombe, D. (2010)The Great Barrier Brooch. [ONLINE}[1]

In order to depict his personal narrative, Cunningham, has chosen to use found objects. This work has been used to illustrate what narrative jewellery is, as is has been manufactured using found objects and has relied on its title to help indicate its narrative to its viewer.

According to Cunningham narrative jewellery may be described as:

 “…small objects that have the potential to speak of large issues make bold statements and question accepted values.”

When observing his piece alongside his definition, a connection may be established. Hence this report has accepted this definition as it will be using jewellery a means to address bridal umakoti issues which are prevalent within the Xhosa lives of many young girls and women.

Within the category of narrative jewellery, this report will be looking at the following types of narrative works:

                                   a.            Narrative jewellery
                         b.       Xhosa Beadwork as a narrative   

           

                                            

Gcina Mhlophe

Gcina Mhlophe is one of the people who had a major influence upon me and many other poets and narrative writers. I was first exposed to her as a child through her radio stories which played every single Saturday morning, on UMhlombo Wenene. There are not many videos of her reading or telling her stories, but I have managed to get this one where she is reading from her one of her favorite books.  When listening to her, you cannot help but be captured by her animated way of story telling.  

Ikhomo-ilobola

One good thing about the day was my second attempt at the rhino cow.I still need to make a few adjustments before I can getting to cast, but this is a huge improvement from the one that I had made last year. The first picture is the cow's front view, am not sure if I am too happy about it and I might need to tweak it abit, reason being that when worn it will be the first thing a person sees and I need for it to be visibly accurate as I can get.

Cow front view 

The second picture is the cow and the frame, judging from the printing, I must have  made some mistakes because the frame was meant to be connected to the cow, so I will need to work on that and consider how I can make the proportions work for the cow.

Cow and frame

I am happy with my side view, there isn't much that I would like to fix with it.

Cow side view 

Close up view

Design concept two

One of my first design and narrative thoughts was to look at the cow in itself as a key element for inspiration. I started off with looking at the cow pattern and tried to stylize it as seen in the picture below.

Cow pattern 

 I still have to decide what it is that I will make with the elements, but I just loved the idea of using gold and royal blue to depict the cow skin and its patches.

cow faces

I then decided to try the idea of making a cartoon-like cow with the beading and I actually enjoyed the outcome, although I still need to  finish off the piece of jewellery with the beaded cow faces.

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 features within the negotiations.

Let's explore

With my theme idea starting to mould itself into a concept, I have decided to play around with the output method of my narrative. 

So I started off by looking at some disney princess and prince cartoons. The reasoning behind this is that I want to breakdown the idea that, this is one of the first marriage, love and wedding idea that females come across. Basically the first seed which little girls are planted with. I was fairly selective with these and chose to use silhouettes as if to suggest that the idea is introduced to you, but you add the details to the image as you grow in life.  

As seen in the picture above, I went to the cut out these pictures and then placed them onto domed brass plates. I then went on to pierce these out< as seen in the picture below. 

From here, I will see what more I can do to grow the idea.