Proudly African visual arts

Friday Lessons with Sir Shelton Mwanyisa

GREETINGS learners, parents and guardians!

Welcome to your Visual and Performing Arts weekly lessons brought to you by your favourite newspaper, The Manica Post.

Learners are expected to have an exercise book and a pen to write work given as exercises. Parents or guardians are encouraged to assist learners with special needs. This week our topic is on Pre-colonial visual arts of Southern Africa. You are expected to be able to:

(i) Identify at least four examples of manmade pre-colonial visual arts.

(ii) State material used to make pre-colonial visual arts.

(iii) Describe the functions of at least four pre-colonial visual arts.

In our first lesson we defined visual arts as artworks that are displayed for people to appreciate. They are divided into two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks.

In the pre-colonial period, traditional communities produced diverse visual arts from different local materials. Let us look at examples of pre-colonial visual arts:

Architecture

The art and design of buildings is called architecture. The Great Zimbabwe monuments are free standing sculptures estimated to have been constructed by the Karanga around the 13th Century.

Karanga is a word used to identify the Shona. The monuments were constructed of granite rocks without mortar. The Great Zimbabwe monuments were used for economic, political, social and religious functions.

The zigzag pattern found at the monuments represents fertility. These patterns are found in most aspects of African decorations including the Khami monuments.

Rock paintings

Rock paintings are another fascinating pre-colonial two-dimensional visual artwork. The San who lived in Southern Africa designed many rock paintings on rocks and caves.

They drew stick figures of themselves and animals and they mainly symbolised their lifestyles. Rock paintings are still found in countries that include Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

Traditional paints were made from animal mixtures of animal blood and fruits.

Masks

Masks were used for various social and religious ceremonies. They are classified as both two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

The Chewa of Malawi are associated with wearing masks, especially during occasions such as harvesting, initiations, hunting and funerals. The common dance associated with wearing of masks is Gule Wamkulu or the Nyau Dance.

Clay pots.

The Karanga of Zimbabwe are associated with making clay pots. These were used for storage of water, processing beverages and cooking, among other uses.

The materials used to make clay pots was earth/clay soils. Such art was mainly done by women. They also show many decorations such as the chevron patterns found at the Great Zimbabwe monuments.

Wooden, stone and metal sculptures

The headrest is common among many traditional communities. The Tonga of Zimbabwe are associated with the traditional walking stick. The traditional walking stick symbolises status, chieftainship or authority.

The Zimbabwe bird made from soap stone makes one of our heritage artefacts found at Great Zimbabwe. Men made tools from stone and iron. Iron was processed into spears, knives, adze and hoes.

Crafts

Crafts were made from mainly reeds and tree bucks. Baskets used to carry food and for storage purposes were made from reeds. They were also designed with beautiful decorative artistic styles.

Beads were made from animal bones and seeds. Ndebele women are known for decorative artworks.

These are some of the common forms of visual arts created by man during the pre-colonial period. They cover buildings, domestic products, and symbolic artworks.

Your exercise for today is to answer the following questions:

(i) State two pre-colonial man-made heritage sites found in Zimbabwe.

(ii) Which ethnic group is associated with wearing masks?

(iii) State four natural materials used to make artworks.

(iv) Name two artefacts found at the Great Zimbabwe monuments.

(v) Which traditional artwork symbolises chieftainship?

(vi) What was an adze used for?

(vii) Name any two animals depicted on rock paintings.

(viii) Research and draw three types of traditional clay pots.

Last week’s answers: (i) State the three historical periods of the history of Zimbabwe.

Pre-colonial, colonial and post colonial (ii) What does pre-colonial mean? The time before colonisation of Zimbabwe by the British

(iii) Explain two roles of music during the pre-colonial era.

Religious and social function

(iv) What was the purpose of composing and singing songs during the colonial period?

To motivate freedom fighters/ to unite the masses against colonialists

(v) Other than Thomas Mapfumo and Cde Chinx, name two musicians who sang songs during the Second Chimurenga.

Oliver Mutukudzi/Mbuya Stella Chiweshe (vi) Project work: Write the lyrics of any colonial or post colonial song.

Next week we look at natural visual artworks.