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iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa

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iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa

Join us for the exhibition opening of "iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa." MOIFA invites you to experience this immersive celebration of South African telephone wire weaving and vibrant cultural traditions featuring:

1:00 - 1:30 pm Musical performance by Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi, South African composer and cellist from the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal.

1:30 - 3:00 pm Opening remarks by Charlie Lockwood, MOIFA’s executive director, and collector David Arment, followed by curatorial roundtable with Dr. Elizabeth Perrill and Muziwandile Gigaba, community curator and lead Indigenous knowledge expert.

3:30 - 4:00 pm Encore performance by Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi, South African composer and cellist from the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Delight in refreshments from Jambo Cafe and hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico.

ASL Interpretation provided for opening remarks and curatorial roundtable

Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi is a musician and cultural thinker who has a strong sense of community and how the local and global connect. Building artistic visions using an internationalist methodology, Mhlambi uses his art and exhibitions in order to convey African stories and philosophies. He has been a visiting artist at Cite Internationale Des Arts in Paris and at universities in Germany, Finland, and Brazil. Mhlambi recently returned from an Artist Fellowship at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, where he was developing new work using ancient Zulu idioms.

Dr. Elizabeth Perrill is a professor of art histories at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The author of two monographs, Zulu Pottery (2012) and Burnished: Zulu Ceramics Between Urban and Rural South Africa (2022), Perrill has been working in South Africa, and specifically KwaZulu-Natal province since 2004, where she is currently leading a Modern Endangered Archives Project grant sponsored through the UCLA Libraries and Arcadia, a London-based charitable foundation.

Muziwandile Gigaba is a South African artist working across art disciplines, including ceramics, printmaking, and sculpture. He is a community curator and Indigenous knowledge expert for iNgqikithi yokuPhica, and an Art Entrepreneurship and Ceramics Lecturer at the Nelson Mandela University. He has participated in several international art residencies and his work is collected by local and international museums.

"iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa" features historical items alongside contemporary works of art, demonstrating individual and community-based ways of making and knowing. Curated in consultation with Indigenous Knowledge experts in broader Nguni and specific Zulu cultures, this exhibition sheds new light on this artistic medium, highlighting the experiences of the artists themselves through videos featuring interviews and the process of creating wirework.

The first major exhibition of telephone wire art in any North American museum, Weaving Meanings features a significant collection assembled and generously donated by David Arment and Jim Rimelspach, the David Arment Southern African Collection. The exhibition is guest curated by Dr. Elizabeth Perrill in collaboration with community curator and lead Indigenous knowledge expert Muziwandile Gigaba.

"iNgqikithi yokuPhica Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa" is supported by New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the International Folk Art Foundation, and Friends of Folk Art, with lead support from David Arment and Jim Rimelspach. Additional major support comes from Courtney and Scott Taylor, a grant from the William H. and Mattie Wattis Harris Foundation, and the generosity of donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Exhibition Development Fund, including the Wilson Foundation (in honor of David Arment and the Telephone Wire Basket project); Joan and Steve Grady; and Kelly and Ginger Hardage.

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Museum of International Folk Art

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Join us for the exhibition opening of "iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa." MOIFA invites you to experience this immersive celebration of South African telephone wire weaving and vibrant cultural traditions featuring:

1:00 - 1:30 pm Musical performance by Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi, South African composer and cellist from the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal.

1:30 - 3:00 pm Opening remarks by Charlie Lockwood, MOIFA’s executive director, and collector David Arment, followed by curatorial roundtable with Dr. Elizabeth Perrill and Muziwandile Gigaba, community curator and lead Indigenous knowledge expert.

3:30 - 4:00 pm Encore performance by Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi, South African composer and cellist from the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Delight in refreshments from Jambo Cafe and hosted by the Women’s Board of the Museum of New Mexico.

ASL Interpretation provided for opening remarks and curatorial roundtable

Dr. Thokozani Mhlambi is a musician and cultural thinker who has a strong sense of community and how the local and global connect. Building artistic visions using an internationalist methodology, Mhlambi uses his art and exhibitions in order to convey African stories and philosophies. He has been a visiting artist at Cite Internationale Des Arts in Paris and at universities in Germany, Finland, and Brazil. Mhlambi recently returned from an Artist Fellowship at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, where he was developing new work using ancient Zulu idioms.

Dr. Elizabeth Perrill is a professor of art histories at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The author of two monographs, Zulu Pottery (2012) and Burnished: Zulu Ceramics Between Urban and Rural South Africa (2022), Perrill has been working in South Africa, and specifically KwaZulu-Natal province since 2004, where she is currently leading a Modern Endangered Archives Project grant sponsored through the UCLA Libraries and Arcadia, a London-based charitable foundation.

Muziwandile Gigaba is a South African artist working across art disciplines, including ceramics, printmaking, and sculpture. He is a community curator and Indigenous knowledge expert for iNgqikithi yokuPhica, and an Art Entrepreneurship and Ceramics Lecturer at the Nelson Mandela University. He has participated in several international art residencies and his work is collected by local and international museums.

"iNgqikithi yokuPhica / Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa" features historical items alongside contemporary works of art, demonstrating individual and community-based ways of making and knowing. Curated in consultation with Indigenous Knowledge experts in broader Nguni and specific Zulu cultures, this exhibition sheds new light on this artistic medium, highlighting the experiences of the artists themselves through videos featuring interviews and the process of creating wirework.

The first major exhibition of telephone wire art in any North American museum, Weaving Meanings features a significant collection assembled and generously donated by David Arment and Jim Rimelspach, the David Arment Southern African Collection. The exhibition is guest curated by Dr. Elizabeth Perrill in collaboration with community curator and lead Indigenous knowledge expert Muziwandile Gigaba.

"iNgqikithi yokuPhica Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa" is supported by New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, the International Folk Art Foundation, and Friends of Folk Art, with lead support from David Arment and Jim Rimelspach. Additional major support comes from Courtney and Scott Taylor, a grant from the William H. and Mattie Wattis Harris Foundation, and the generosity of donors to the Museum of New Mexico Foundation’s Exhibition Development Fund, including the Wilson Foundation (in honor of David Arment and the Telephone Wire Basket project); Joan and Steve Grady; and Kelly and Ginger Hardage.

Museum of International Folk Art

https://www.facebook.com/InternationalFolkArt/

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