Five make it as world beaders
INTRICATE beaded tapestries — one worth more than $1-million (about R11-million) — on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington have catapulted five rural women from small-town crafters to international artists.
It is the first time the Anacostia Community Museum, part of the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and research centres, is exhibiting this type of bead art.
It is the creation of the women of Ubuhle Beautiful Beads, which operates from a farm in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
The work reflects the life experiences of the women, who have overcome poverty, HIV/Aids and abuse.
The work consists of 31 ndwangos — black cloth canvases comprising thousands of tiny glass beads hand-sewn in intricate patterns.
Portia James of the museum said the work had attracted big crowds and the exhibit would run until September.
Bev Gibson, a co-founder of Ubuhle, persuaded the Smithsonian to exhibit the work. She helped to establish Ubuhle with Ntombephi Ntobela on a sugar plantation north of Durban in 1999. The beaders are Ntobela, her sisters Thando and Zandile, Nonhlakanipho Mndiyatha and Zondili Zondo.
One of the pieces, African Crucifixion, valued at more than $1-million, was commissioned for the Anglican cathedral in Pietermaritzburg and took nearly a year to complete.
Ubuhle started as a community project to empower rural women. It has helped the women to support their families. Ntombephi Ntobela, 47, built her family a three-bedroom home on their homestead in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape.
The Smithsonian will fly Gibson, Ntombephi and Zandile to Washington in June for a panel discussion and a programme on US television.
“I am so excited that our work is being recognised and that we have a chance to tell the world about it,” said Zandile, 27.
“We are so proud of ourselves. I didn’t realise when I started beading how it would change my life. I’ve been able to express my emotion through
Art is often what happens when our life experiences become too big for words
this, and it has also given me financial independence.
“I’m not even educated, yet I found this beading project that has helped me to take care of my family.”
Ntombephi said she was excited about the US trip: “I didn’t even know where Washington is. Now our work is there.”
The Washington Post noted: “Ubuhle recognises the powerful cultural currents and back stories from the artists as central to their every stitch.
“Art is often what happens when our life experiences become too big for words.”