Mbongiseni Jerome Mkhize
Ngiyazisa Ngomafungwase Wakethu, (I am crying for our elder sister), a work in oil pastel on paper by Jerome Mkhize (plate 324), was featured on the exhibition Untold Tales of Magic: Abelumbi. This exhibition was curated by Jill Addleson of the Durban Art Gallery in 2002, and it toured South Africa thereafter. Mkhize made a terrifying image that deals with the clandestine killings that are sometimes carried out in Zulu communities to obtain human body parts for rituals and the purposes of traditional medicine or muthi.
In this work there is an element of the autobiographical at work, for the artist seems to be dealing with the loss of his elder sister who was the victim of such a killing. The central figure wearing amulets around his neck is using a knife on her corpse to remove certain organs, while two animal-like figures, apparently zombies, look on. To the left, some skeletons, possibly signifying the victim’s ancestors, arise from an opening coffin with gestures of dismay. This work was an obvious expression of the artist’s disapproval of such practices in his own culture. Read More…
