The Siyazama Project: A Traditional Beadwork and AIDS Intervention Program

Abstract

This article is first and foremost descriptive: it gives an account of the origin and development of the Siyazama Project, both as a design communication and AIDS intervention program among the Zulu women of rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It also is analytic, since it explains the effect and effectiveness of beadwork as a visual metaphoric mode of expression. It demonstrates how the beadwork and craft of the women in the Siyazama Project act as reliable and authoritative modes of communication to circumvent the Zulu cultural taboo on the discussion of matters of personal intimacy (hlonipha), and the women's lack of English and scribal writing, all of which threaten to render them powerless, silent and invisible in the war against AIDS. The beadwork designs of the rural women of KwaZulu-Natal successfully transcend accepted traditional modes and norms, and challenge socio-cultural, health, and economic issues that threaten their lives and the lives of their families and communities. The Siyazama project thus has changed and is changing the selfand community image of those most affected by the AIDS pandemic. It is only a matter of time before such transformation impinges on their society as a whole, providing a significant example of the role of design as an agent of social transformation.