New Exhibition - The Secrets of Beads 'Imfihlo Yobuhlalu'
LINK to download catalogue F or e w ord Dr M. Mduduzi Xakaza Director: Durban Art Gallery Global human society is not culturally static; it is definitely marked by elements of dynamism. The Zulu community, too, has always been culturally dynamic, responding to both internal and external stimuli and attendant existential requirements. One of such stimuli has been the community’s need to use culture as a tool for communication. In the introduction of ‘The Secrets of Beads’ Jannie van Heerden, an acknowledged authority on Zulu crafts, articulates the social significance of Zulu beadwork from the nineteenth century up to the present. The Durban Art Gallery hosts such an important exhibition of its beadwork collection at an opportune moment given that the current global cultural upheavals should not be allowed to erode what has always been known as ‘Z...