Ngezinyawo - Migrant Journeys

Wits Art Museum 10 April-20 July 2014

Education Resource compiled by Alison Kearney

This exhibition will give you insights into the journeys and experiences of migrants. Bringing together artworks, photography, archival documents, music and other forms of expression, the exhibition explores the effects of the migrant labour system that built the South African economy.

This booklet will guide you along your journey of discovery in the exhibition. It has spaces for you to draw and write down your thoughts about what you see, hear and feel. By working in this book, you will have made a personal exhibition resource to take home with you.

The Migrant’s Journey

People have been moving around Africa for trade and work since ancient times. In the 1860s colonial rulers found gold and diamonds in parts of southern Africa and needed a cheap labour force to extract the mineral wealth. They imposed taxes on black Africans on a per hut basis. The hut taxes were a source of income for the colonialists, and a way to force people to leave their rural homesteads to go to the urban centres in search of jobs. This migrant labour system built the South African economy and continues today.

WRITE Imagine you have left home, journeying into the unknown seeking employment.

You don’t know when you will return or what you may find on your way. Write down words that describe how you feel.

Artist unrecorded, 1886 Migrants arriving on the diamond fields in search of work Photograph Courtesy McGregor Museum, Kimberley Historical Photographs Collection Robert Hart McGregor Museum

Glossary Migrant worker A migrant worker is a person who moves from place to place in search of work.

Migrant workers initially made the long, dangerous journeys from rural homesteads to urban spaces on foot carrying their small but precious belongings with them.

Precious Possessions

The personal objects like staffs, snuff bags and pipes that migrant workers carried with them were powerful reminders of the home and families they left behind.

These objects can be thought of as symbols of the personal journeys that migrant workers made.

DRAW Look at the collection of objects in the Maria SteinLessing and Leopold Spiegel cabinet in the Street Gallery.

Select an object that you would take with you if you were a migrant worker leaving home in search of work and make a quick sketch of it on this page.

Share why you have chosen this object.

Artists unrecorded, unrecorded date Shona, Zimbabwe Mukohodzerwa (snuff containers) Wood, metal, wire, feather Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Artists unrecorded, unrecorded date Xhosa, South Africa Inqawa erasiweyo (beaded pipe) and Inqawa (woman’s pipe) Wood, metal, beads, found objects Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Artists unrecorded, c19th C Zulu, South Africa Various Staffs Wood Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Urban Migrant Life

In the early decades of the twentieth century singlesex compounds, with concrete bunk beds and cold bare walls were constructed to house migrant mine workers.

Some of these mining compounds are still in use today.

Migrant mine workers were separated from their families, for long periods of time, living in cramped conditions with strict rules and prescribed shifts for working and sleeping.

WRITE Find Michael Goldberg’s artwork Hostel Monument for the Migrant Worker made in 1978. Look carefully at the artwork and discuss the questions below. Write your answers in the spaces provided.

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Michael Goldberg, 1978 Hostel Monument for the Migrant Worker Multiple media installation of found materials Wits Art Museum

Glossary Monument A building, pillar, statue or structure erected in memory of a person or persons or event, regarded as heroic or of historical importance.

FIND Find a photograph that relates to Goldberg’s artwork: Photographer: Date: Title: Share the reasons for your choice.

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Transforming Identities

Artist unrecorded, unrecorded date Zulu, South Africa Isigqiki (headrest) Wood, plastic, metal, studs Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

In the 1940s the Johannesburg City Council established a series of men’s hostels to house migrant workers who worked in a number of different industries. Over time these hostels became flourishing markets where traders sold artworks made by rural artists, and items like clothing, made by the migrants themselves.

Items of clothing and personal accessories were a means for the migrant workers to express their traditional heritage and individual identities.

Over time readily available modern materials and techniques were incorporated into traditional forms, resulting in traditional objects that reflected aspects of modernity, as can be seen in this Zulu headrest that has brightly coloured perspex letters.

The iBantshi (beaded suit jacket) and Iziqhaza (earplugs) on this page are Zulu cultural items that have been made using modern techniques and a mixture of materials.

The use of hybrid materials in these examples shows how cultural practices are always changing.

Cultural practices are influenced by social, economic, and technological developments, such as the availability of materials.

Glossary Artist unrecorded, unrecorded date Zulu, South Africa Ibantshi (beaded suit jacket) Textile, beads Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Artists unrecorded, unrecorded date, Zulu, South Africa Izihqhaza (earplugs) Plastic metal, pins, wood Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Hybrid Something that is produced from the interaction of two different cultures or traditions.

Culture The behaviours and beliefs of a particular social, ethnic or age group.

LET’S TALK Find a portrait of a migrant worker.

What can you tell about this man from how he is dressed in this photograph?

What does the way you are dressed today tell others about who you are?

Women at Home

Londile Nomfanelo, date unrecorded (possibly c1987) Ugcazimbana (beaded neck piece) Rubber recycled object, beads, wool Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Men customarily went to the urban centres in search of work, and women remained in the rural homesteads.

Women maintained the fields and the household, raised the children, and looked after the aged. Women were also expected to maintain traditional customs, like making ritual objects and traditional garments.

Some of the objects made by women show how traditional practices were inuenced by access to modern materials, as women incorporated readily available modern substitutes for traditional items.

For example, discarded machine gaskets sent home by migrant workers, were transformed with the addition of coloured glass beads and pink wool by women into Ugcazimbana (beaded neck ring) commonly worn by men.

This Ikhubalo (nursing charm necklace), sometimes worn by Xhosa women who are nursing incorporates baby formula spoons. The formula spoons identify the woman’s breastfeeding status as well as provide soft surfaces for babies to teeth on.

DRAW Find a traditional object that incorporates modern materials and make a quick sketch of it on this page.

Glossary Gasket A rubber, metal or rope ring for placing around a mechanical joint to make it watertight.

Artist Unrecorded, unrecorded date, (possibly c1987) Xhosa, South Africa Ikhubalo (nursing charm necklace) Plastic, recycled material, beads Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Women and Migrancy

As the twentieth century progressed, more than one family member needed to earn an income to support the rural homestead, so growing numbers of women travelled to urban centres in search of work.

One of the most common forms of employment they found was domestic work. The women often lived with the families they worked for and spent long periods of time away from their own families. This form of migrant labour is still widely practiced today.

Glossary Representation Portraying the likeness or some characteristics of a person or thing in visible form.

Keith Dietrich, 1985 South Africa Dora Ntlantsana Pastel on paper Wits Art Museum

LET’S TALK Compare and contrast Keith Dietrich’s (1985) representation of Dora Ntlantsana with Claudette Schreuders’ (1995) Mother and Child.

Who is being represented in each of these artworks?

What items give us clues as to the identity of the person represented?

Why do you think the artist chose to represent the person in this way?

What do these artworks say about the life of domestic workers?

Claudette Shreuders, 1995 South Africa Mother and child Cypress and American bass wood gordonschachatcollection

Resilience and Creativity

Life was (and continues to be) difficult for migrant workers. Performance and song played a vital role in passing on of oral histories, for social commentary and artistic expression. These creative outputs show an ability to survive with dignity despite the migrant workers’ daily hardships.

Unrecorded artist, unrecorded date Chopi, Mozambique Marimba Wood, gourds, string Wits Museum of Ethnology (Wits Art Museum)

LISTEN Choose a song to listen to in the museum. Close your eyes and listen. Write words that describe your emotions when listening.

Discuss why you think this song would have been inspirational for a migrant worker?

Missing Home

Tito Zungu, 1969 Envelope Ballpoint pen, pencil on envelope Standard Bank African Art Collection (Wits Art Museum)

Migrant workers spent painfully long periods of time away from their families and homesteads. Letter writing was an important means to communicate with absent loved ones.

In the 1960s, artist Tito Zungu began to decorate the envelopes of letters he sent to his friends and family when he was away from home. Using pencil, ball point pens and coloured pens the envelopes were decorated with images of boats and aeroplanes and transistor radios. Soon he began to sell decorated envelopes to other migrant workers who also needed to send letters to their loved ones.

Moving between time and space, the envelopes made the journeys from work place to home, linking the migrant workers’ different worlds.

WRITE Choose an artwork that you think is special. On the postcard insert, write to someone who has not seen the exhibition, describing what you see, how you feel and why you think the artwork is special.

Remember, the recipient will not have seen the exhibition so your description must be detailed enough to help them imagine the artwork and give them a sense of its significance.

Notes and Drawings