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COLLABORATIONS ON PAINTING, PRINTING, STITCHING AND PARTS OF

The lives and work of three women intersect in this exhibition - Bronwen Findlay, Daina Mabunda and Faiza Galdhari. Each derives from a wholly different cultural and ethnic group and have consequently been moulded by divergent world views and experiences that are central to their creative expressions. The vocabularies these artists have developed, are inevitably drawn from their own surroundings and experiences, ideals and affinities. Their work reflects a search for identity, who they are, where they derive their values from and how these are relevant to their lives and work What links these women is their creativity and friendship, as well as shared experiences and vulnerabilities. Although they work independently, their work has interestingly manifest uncanny thematic and formal similarities.

As women they are markedly affected by issues of class, race, gender and societal expectations. Mabunda the rural woman, subject to an ostensibly protective patriarchal system, yet ultimately functioning as the financial and emotional centre of her family; Findlay the white urban academic and artist, subject to expectations of independence and authority, yet both dominant yet vulnerable in her difference; Galdhari the Muslim woman artist who embraces the roles expected of her in terms of her adherence to Islam, while conscious of the boundaries she precariously straddles and negotiates. These artists were drawn to the arts as a result of very different imperatives - Findlay and Galdhari products of a Fine Arts training in a discipline that is often regarded as marginal and indulgent; and Mabunda entrepreneur-artist deriving her skills from a Shangaan crafting tradition that has been absorbed into and modified through the advent of an alternate white tourist market.
Findlay, the coordinator of this exhibition, has long displayed a nurturing and inclusive tendency in supporting and encouraging creativity in the work of her female peers. She invited Mabunda and Galdhari to exhibit this year in what has turned our to be a crucial period in their respective lives: Findlay has recently been subject to retrenchment when the Fine Arts Department at the University of Durban-Westville was closed down in 2000. Mabunda was recently divorced and has had to independently renew and further develop her own enterprise, product and market for her work, and Galdhari, a highly promising master’s graduate, one of the few Muslim artists in South Africa, has been challenged by her role as a mother, and devastated by the illness of her husband (a heart transplant recipient), resulting in a reclusiveness and revised iconography as she increasingly gravitates towards more devout Muslim practice.

This exhibition represents a turning point in their respective careers, as all are currently faced with significant choices and challenges, both in terms of future developments and emphases, but also in terms of more fundamental economic and logistical considerations. They are equally concerned with retaining their integrity.
Findlay has had a distinguished career as an artist, with national and international exposure and acclaim. Her work can be described as a series of histories in an autobiographical journey of self-disclosure and reverence for life and being. Her early career was marked by an expressive painterly propensity, deploying bright contrasting colours and an oleopasto thickened impasto, in the translation of everyday household and other objects of relevance to her. The content of her work is dominated by objects, flora, textures and patterned surfaces derived from various sources that include western, oriental and African examples.

Findlay constantly negotiates a path between the conventional and the unconventional, reflected in her life, work and accommodating reception of all persons and traditions. In both her home and office, which function as extended studios, decorative textiles, floor coverings, ceramics and found objects fill the interiors, contributing to a quaint hybridity that surrounds her with memories. All objects are associated with the passage of time and a personal journey. In both environments the nest of possessions and detail - the result of her acquisitive nature - simultaneously reflect order and chaos. Many of these objects appear in her work as metaphors for historical moments, past histories, memorable contexts and experiences.

In every sense her work reflects her personality and her home and work contexts. With an aplomb born of playful absorption and reverence, Findlay draws freely on objects from various cultural groups and eras, especially those that reinforce her predilection for pattern, colour and texture. She consciously crosses cultural and class boundaries, selecting for example floral patterned linoleum, traditionally used in African homes as an inexpensive floor covering, for use in her home and as a source for some of her work. Included in her works some of these objects inevitably function as metaphors of class and racial divides and also as evocative, challenging signs that demystify entrenched value systems .

Her works seem exotic, sensual and compelling. Her use of nature and floral motifs is closely associated with sexuality, as sex is commonly perceived as the point of contact between woman (or man) and nature, where the morally and conventionally bound self gives way to primal impulses. Further nature in her work is intricately associated with natural cycles, processes and functions. Nature in her work also functions as a memento mori, and alludes to the passage of time and closure. The vitality in her work is often contrasted with poignant moments of decay, or allusions to age, death and finality which permeate her work. For some time she has depicted circular shapes which increasingly function as offertory mandalas on which precious objects relate to her past and present experience. These mandala receptacles have also been translated into sculptural mounds of tile and porcelain fragments. In a work included in this exhibition she has placed a crushed young chameleon, a Hindu luxmi string, a wishbone, beads, a praying mantis, lace, funghi and a switch of silk (found in her mother’s school book), and a doily. Each object is situated in a mandala shape, framed or isolated as a unique memory or phrase. In another work the canvas is scattered with fallen petals and buds, which recall an idyllic childhood memory, while at the same time functioning as a memento mori - the petals on a dark ground suggesting the passage of nature (the living) into the dark atmosphere of the unknown.(pers.comm. 1999)

Initially celebrated as a still-life and intimist artist, her works were read as reflecting her expressive spontaneity, generosity and warmth. Little attention was however paid to the fact that her thematic choices can equally be linked to an introspective, albeit unconventional identity. She seeks solace and strength in the comfortable signs of the known. The past, the discarded, the rescued, the previously owned has relevance in that while not necessarily experienced, continues to be vicariously shared.

Despite her having a fine art training Findlay admits to being intrigued by the ‘crossovers that can exist’ between craft and other creative processes(pers.comm 2000). A craft object or process has often been a starting point in her work, such as lace, crocheted articles, beadwork or embroidery. They function in her work as precious signs of labour, time and expertise. Her interest in crafted objects has also influenced her stylistically, and recent works emulate the punctuated textures of beads on cloth and the patterns of brass pins that Daina Mabunda makes. Currently she is producing works with a decorative textured abstraction, consisting of varying sizes of paint dots (resembling beads) which fill her canvases with undulating waves of movement.

Findlay’s relationship with Daina emerged in 1991 when she did field work in Mpumalanga in what was previously a homeland for the Shangaan people. Here she met Daina the wife of Reckson Mabunda who was then in charge of a local Xihoko craft workshop, situated at Mwamitwa near Runnymede, which specialized in the making of embroidered cloths. Taught by early missionaries, embroidery has become an integral part of the cultural manifestation and creative skills of women in the region. Daina Mabunda’s sewing skills were amplified by further training at a factory in the area.

Reckson Mabunda was in charge of the Xihoko project, while the women produced the work. It later emerged that the women in fact did all the designs and embroidery, but being subject to a strict patriarchy, allowed Reckson Mabunda to function as co-orDainator, financial manager and creative force in the project. Findlay functioned as both a researcher, intermediary (in assisting with sales and subsequent exhibitions) and conducted a few workshops on starch resist at Xihoko. In addition she became a close friend of Daina Mabunda, visiting her from time to time after her research was concluded, and including her in several exhibitions over the years.

The embroidered cloth from Xihoko was decorated with motifs drawn from nature that are either traditionally significant or are derived from sources in the media or elsewhere (such as angel motifs), which are reinterpreted from memory and modified for personal use. In one of the cloths in this exhibition, for example, the motif of a mosquito came from a Doom insecticide container. Her motifs are simplified and modified by decorative insertions. Translated in bright artificial colours, typical of to those preferred by the Shangaan people, the images occur on borders or as floating motifs on functional articles such as sheets, cushion covers, and tablecloths, that are sought after in boutiques throughout the country and even abroad.

When she exhibits with Findlay, Daina Mabunda uses many of the same or similar motifs deployed on commercial ware, but these are variously modified and placed in innovative compositions to be accommodated in elaborate compositions onto larger cloths or in combination with motifs drawn by Findlay, or, as in this exhibition, by Galdhari. She has also been encouraged by Findlay to use other traditional Shangaan decorative practices, such as brass safety-pin or beaded patterns, separately or in combination with embroidery and beaded motifs. Consequently her works reflect an assimilation and hybridity that is both traditional and cross-culturally informed. Findlay has attempted to influence Mabunda as little as possible, but for this exhibition has suggested the use of velvet cloth for some of her pieces. Mabunda considers her work for these exhibitions to be important in that they provide a new impetus and challenge. Consequently she is able to be more experimental, selecting new motifs and compositions. New motifs are tortoises (xibodye) and others derived from dreams and her imagination.

When Daina Mabunda fell ill in the mid 1990s, her husband rejected her as he "didn’t want her to die in his house", so the couple parted. (Mabunda pers. comm.2000) On a visit to Findlay, Mabunda was discovered to have diabetes, which has subsequently been treated. Her illness also led to her seeking healing from the Zionist separatist church in her area, although she is still a traditionalist in every sense. (Ibid) Married according to traditional law, she was obliged to reimburse her husband for her dowry payment, which act terminated her marriage. She was subsequently released from conventions of respect, able to move freely and become economically independent. Her children have followed her to her new home, assisting in both the production and dispersal of her embroidered products. Since leaving Xihoko she has increased the number and variety of motifs, drawing increasingly from the local flora and also the flower motifs and designs to be found on images from the commercially printed cloths (ncekas) worn by Shangaan women.

Primarily her creativity has provided her with an unprecedented status: she is now in control of her designs, finances and movements. She has also acquired considerable standing in the community in terms of her assisting and teaching women in her area, and from further afield, to improve their economic situations, while at the same time promoting aspects of Shangaan cultural tradition. At present she confidently straddles a commercial and fine art context, in which her work is modified by commercially requisite repetition and the expectations of renewal from a gallery context. The two function in tandem perpetuating tradition and renewing it as result of a different cultural expectation.

Faiza Galdhari, a Fine Arts masters graduate from the University of Durban-Westville, specialised in printmaking and has had considerable exposure as a rising female Muslim artist. Galdhari met Findlay at university (where she taught graphics) when completing her Masters dissertation. In her research she focused on the position of the Muslim female in society, her innate sexuality and desires and how these were sustained in what might otherwise appear to be a closed and gender restrictive society. Galdhari sees her femininity swathed in the protective robes of Islam, rather than restricted by them. Within purdah she discerns the body of a sensual, loving woman, mother, and wife. In her work she attempts to instruct the western and Islamic viewer about what it is to be a Muslim and the essential role of women in Islam, but couched in a hybrid language the result of her western training and traditional belief system

Matriculating from a Roman Catholic school and with a Christian grandmother, Galdhari has been exposed to central aspects of western culture and belief. Subject to state legislation which disallowed art in non-white schools, it was impossible for her to realise the considerable talent in art that she manifested from an early age. At university, she was subject to frequent questioning by her parents regarding the realist nature of her work, and suggestions that she should also do "other" creative work. On explaining what she intended to convey, her parents were appeased, realising that her intentions were to uphold Islam from a contemporary woman’s perspective.
Galdhari approaches her subject from the position of an insider, far removed from the clichéd perspective of the oriental as metaphor for the exotic and the subjugated. In her earlier work she explores the reality of the Muslim woman living in western society in a ‘minority situation’, yet able to maintain her own identity despite the allure of western excess and overt sensuality (pers comm. 2000) In these works Galdhari celebrates the strength of the purdah dressed woman who she regards as a role model for her community and family. Well aware that these women retain their sensuality, she applauds their devotion to Islam, their husbands and their integrity. In Islam the Muslim woman is regarded as the most important figure in the home, while the father has a duty to provide for his family. In justifying the crucial role of the mother in Islam she quotes the Koranic text: ‘Heaven lies at the feet of your mother’. As a devout Muslim she chooses to stay at home, rear her children, sets moral values and teaches them how to be good Muslims. (Pers comm 2000)

Despite the virtual absence of representation in Islamic art, Galdhari initially felt justified in conveying her position in partly representational imagery. She encountered considerable opposition among the Islamic liturgical fraternity during the course of her research, but persevered nonetheless, ultimately gaining sanction for her views from some Muslim religious leaders. Her audience is predominantly western and culturally remote, therefore there was little chance of her offending her community, as she is well aware that such work would never be purchased by Muslims. As she has become increasingly devout, she has turned away from the literal and figurative, and has sought in Islamic culture - such as traditional Islamic prayers and motifs- metaphors signaling the essential features of her faith, reflecting a further degree of absorption of her faith and culture.

Galdhari faces several dilemmas at present. Her husband’s condition has impacted on her in many ways, reminding her that life is temporary and causing her to turn increasingly to her religion. She feels the need to support her husband financially, but is equally convinced of the need to fulfill her obligations to her children. Further her career needs to be maintained, even if remotely, faced with the eventuality of functioning as a co-breadwinner. Convinced that ‘God never puts a burden on your shoulders that you cannot carry’ she persists in her increased devotions and faith (pers comm 2000). She has entertained the idea of initiating a studio for Islamic art at her home, thereby justifying her god-given talent and the continuation of her creativity. Recently selected to go on a sponsored Haj to Mecca, she will doubtless be inspired anew in her belief.

While her recent work retains a few representational elements, she increasingly focuses on traditionally symbolic motifs, such as treasured family prayer rugs, sweetmeats associated with specific religious fasts or celebrations (such as Ramadan). To her the sweetmeat (jimel) or the samoosa, is a reflection of women’s domestic role - she who makes and nurtures. Her materials increasingly assume associative significance, thus she likens pastel to the softness yet strength of a woman, and black charcoal as symbolic of purdah. The predominantly red and a green prayer mat she knew as a child, in translation evokes sentimental childhood associations, its black outlines signifying the female presence She has also transcribed in Arabic the entire surah yaseen, described by her as the "heart of the Koran" as a reminder of its centrality in her life, while in another work she has affixed numerous prayer bags, made by her mother, to the surface.

Her use of calico is also significant, in that traditionally the Muslim dead are wrapped and buried in calico (not in a coffin as in the west), preferably on the same day the person expires. The surah yaseen is recited at the burial by the community who surround the body. Centrality is also therefore vital in her work, as it echoes the nurturing vessels of the womb, platters and the circular paths of the devout around the prophet Mohammed’s tomb

Female artists in South Africa initially subjected their creativity to the thematic and formal traditions established in academic institutions dominated by male hierarchies. Increasingly they have forged their own conventions and vocabularies, and narrated their own stories. The three artists discussed above, are strong committed women, whose works articulate diverse cultural, personal and gendered perspectives related to their respective identities. Each has and continues to develop new imagery central to their changing positions and experiences. Their creativity has enabled them to poignantly voice their stories and cultural traditions.

Juliette Leeb-du Toit, Centre of Visual Arts University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.
Interview with: Bronwen Findlay (2000), Faiza Galdhari (2000), Daina Mabunda (2000 - translated by Cordelia Nkwhashu)