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“Kumvwa Kukumuna Kwakwe” by Delaine le Bas

Stephen Garan’anga Visual Art
The upper South Gallery a sub-section of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare has its huge Julius Nyerere Way glass wall that illuminate the enclosure with the natural daylight shut by a thin chromate black plastic to present a pleasurable view of the magnificent basketry art pieces carefully located in harmony on the deck.

From the partial darkness to pitch black is a secluded makeshift room with an ‘‘enter’’ admonishment by the mid entrance point covered by an off-white piece of cheap cloth. As you cautiously step into the unknown you are suddenly overwhelmed by diamond shape like shadows mesmerising the entirety of the room.

There is a tiny illuminating artificial light on the cold floor caged by a semi-spherical tough reed woven structure seeming a lamp shed with diamond patterns. It is the mastermind of our own well-established artist Tapfuma Gutsa, who was enjoying the local natural weaving material widely and elegantly used by the Tonga in Binga where he recently had a basketry residency in Honde for the current ‘‘Basket Showcase II’’ at the National Gallery.

As you confidently step out of the diamond shadow room you are on the immediate right embraced by his huge balancing ‘‘Saint Sebastian’’ basketry piece and on the left you can in the semi darkness comfortably disappear into the woven ‘‘Dura Rakamba’’.

All Tapfuma’s pieces in the show either on the floor or hanging are huge. Equally huge is Nigeria’s Ifeoma Ugonnwa Anyaeji’s ‘‘Asiyafuna Amavila’’ (ngobathinasiyazenzela) constructed hugely from ilala leaves, sisal, plastic bags, discarded plastic bottles and found wood. The four-side piece resembles our common rural home’s roofless pit latrine or a makeshift out door bathroom.

Various weaving techniques and woven round mats of colour have been used to put up the splendid structure. She said the piece is a four- panel room divider that could also be appropriated into a small booth was partly inspired by the local structures that she saw in some homesteads in Lupane where she had her basketry residency aided by Bhekitshe Ntshali and had an insight of the Lupane Women Centre.

Germany’s Alexandra Bircken was very innovative with her over two meters tall ‘‘Scania’’ in which she acquired a two-wheeled pushcart (chingoro) in Bulawayo after realising the significance of owning one for the people’s livelihood in the city. Called ‘‘Scania’’, she used the metal cart to construct a mobile Zulu people traditional hut with its metal sides forming strong walls of the grass thatched hut.

She also interwove four different irregular pieces about the same size using specific technique for each piece with ilala palm. The pieces are ‘‘Big’’, ‘‘Ugly’’, ‘‘Fat’’ and ‘‘Fellow’’ and are only part of several pieces and weaving techniques that she learnt during her stay in the country.

Sublime weaving skills were unleashed by five master weavers on a large figurative pieces of the show titled ‘‘Kumvwa kukumuna kwakwe’’(hear her roar) that was created at Binga Craft Centre for a lengthy 40 days.

Delaine Le Bas, a British artist who was doing residency at the centre, conceived the artwork modelled on one of Queen Victoria’s famous gowns and other 20 additional elements. The artwork had several Tonga traditional weaving designs which included the representation of waves of the Zambezi River which was the source of livelihood for people of area before being displaced for the existing hydroelectric power plant and the Kariba Dam that gave birth to the Lake Kariba.

Other traditional designs such as Mbizi, Mayuwe, Mbanylna and Maluba were incorporated in the piece that Delainne thought addresses the history and legacy of colonisation, the suppression of cultures and how these then turn full circle.

She said the installation would not have been possible without the creativity, knowledge, skill, and care of everyone at the Binga Craft Centre and the museum. French industrial designer Natali Crasset produced a series of pieces she called ‘‘Seeds’’ which were inspired by the gourd basket widely crafted in Bulawayo.

Her design workshop was hosted at Bulawayo Home Industries in which it focused on the use of the gourde as the common denominator and explored the multiple forms and objects that could be formed from it.

Natali appreciated the irregularity of the gourde basket and using the knowledge of the weavers’ and skill she sought to develop a variety that would transform these craft objects into pieces of contemporary design. In collaboration with the weavers they created various amazing objects evolving from the gourde basket. As she enhanced the appeal of a piece she found potential functionality in it and centre placed a mirror.

The weavers and she developed a number of objects including the extension of the gourde shape into a bag using ilala and another soft one using soft sisal.

They also developed a vase, a bowl and Matopos sculptural shapes that are both decorative and functional.

Germany’s Sebastian Herkner focusing on designing objects and furniture merging various cultural contexts, combining new technologies with traditional craftsmanship in order to highlight the multifaceted beauty of the materials and draw renewed attention to small details collaborated with Binga women weavers to enhance appeal and details to the various objects they developed. They combined pottery bowls and basketry to produce fabulous series of ‘‘Pamwe’’ (together) objects and ‘‘Fara’’ (happy).

France’s Michel Paysant – an artist whose work brings together art, science and technology -had an intriguing residency with weaving communities in Masvingo. He spent a while trying to understand and observe the women artists who shared their open-air workshops with him.

The idea to conceive a useful and friendly project was his main objective the generic theme was typography and the seeking of the common denominator between typography and weaving amongst other things.

Basket Case II has contributed to the elevation of some of the country’s basketry skills of various rural groups by collaborating with many creative and innovative international and local artists.