Abstract
The focus of this article is on 'little travellers', a form of figure making associated with Woza Moya, an arts and craft project based in Hillcrest, KwaZulu-Natal. This article tracks and analyses the creation of two variations of the Frida 'little traveller' created by a Woza Moya bead artist, Busisiwe Nzama, in partnership with the Director of the project, Paula Thomson. My data-gathering process was conducted over an eleven-month period of observations interspersed with conversations, photographing and interviews with the objective of deepening an understanding of the co-design and co-creation process between a stakeholder from the arts and craft non-governmental sector and societal practice partners. The study conducted found that an analysis of this process of partnership allows a deepened understanding of the historical realities of an individual expressed through beadworks. Some 'little travellers' by Nzama take their inspiration from the work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. As with Kahlo, much of Nzama's work is concerned with self-representation. While Nzama and Kahlo treat the subject of self-representation differently, both artists indicate ways in which the self becomes infused in a work of art. This aspect of the 'little travellers' conceptualisation enables me to explore the similarities between Nzama and Kahlo's bodies of work.
Highlights
Introduction to the Hillcrest Aids CentreTrust and Woza MoyaWoza Moya, which translates to ‘come winds of change’, is a socially engaged arts and craft project that was established in the late 1990s
As discussed in scholarly texts, the Woza style follows the way other styles were developed and named. These beadwork styles are named for the locales in which they are created, for example, the Eshowe style, Ndwedwe style, Drakensberg style and Msinga style, are all named after areas in the province (Jolles 1993; van Wyk 2003; Boram-Hays 2005; Gatfield 2019)
The Woza style was presented as a contemporary form of beadwork, established as a way to address a ‘wicked problem’ through implementing a holistic, family-centric and asset-based approach to hospice and palliative health care
Summary
The name Woza beadwork style derives from Woza Moya and started in the early 2000s. This style may be regarded as the type situated under the aegis of contemporary beadwork practices. These works were given personalised titles, such as Bongi Rasta Girl, Mzi the Gardener, Joyce the Sangoma, Sipho the Groom and Zondikile gogo and baby (Figures 7 to 12) The discovery of these named ‘little travellers’ suggests ways in which this form of making at Woza Moya became a way through which the bead artists invited viewers to aspects of their lives by creating ‘beaded portraitures’ of people with whom they shared personal relationships. While observing the creation of the Frida ‘little travellers’, Thomson unveiled a treasured box that archived what appeared to be indexes into the lives of some earlier Woza Moya beadworkers (Figure 14) These archived figures included self-portraits of the beadworkers when read singularly, but when considered collectively, they represented a form of a family album told through beaded figures. The growth of the range indicates Thomson’s important and influential role as an individual who informs the creative process in the ‘little traveller’ project
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