THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MAWANDE KA ZENZILE: IINGCUKA EZOMBETHE IIMFELE ZEGUSHA

In this body of work Mawande Ka Zenzile (b1986) uses his childhood memory as an apparatus to challenge his present social situation. It is his attempt to interrogate issues related to power, fear, and Rudyard Kipling’s notion of “the law of the jungle” (1), a theory that is also translated by many as “the survival of the fittest” (Herbert Spencer, 1869). Although Kipling’s tale, The Jungle Book, is based on the animal kingdom, Zenzile’s work draws an analogy with this through themes of ethics, fear, and, power, and their manifestations in human kingdom.

Zenzile also draws attention to Xhosa history and heritage through his work; from the story and mysteries or mischief around the death of the AmaXhosa king, King Hintsa Ka Khawuta (aah zanzolo!!!); and the story of AmaMfengu and their adoption of Christianity, or the memento of the oath that this community took under a Milkwood tree (1835, the same year that King Hintsa was assassinated by British soldiers), and thereafter, when this group of people took a vow and accepted white supremacy and ideologies and doctrine. (2)

Dealing mainly with issues of representation and politics of representation, Zenzile works with a range of different media including traditional techniques such as oil on canvas, sometimes combined with cow dung, earth, and found materials, as well as performance. For this exhibition, he will be collaborating with his son, Sikelela ngxingxi Jr and UCT drama student, Zwelakhe Khuse in an opening performance.

Mawande Ka Zenzile, an artist for sometime, is currently studying at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town (UCT). As a young artist he worked under the mentorship of artists such as Peter E. Clarke, Jane Alexander and Sabata Sesiu, and has assisted a number of renowned artists including Julia Rosa Clarke, Kjell Nupen, and Rael Salley. 

>> SPIN STREET GALLERY>
8 Spin Street (above Bread, Milk & Honey)
Cape Town, South Africa
8001
Tel : 27 21 465 7895
Fax: 27 21 465 7894
Email: hellovansa@vansa.co.za
Website:www.vansa.co.za