The Merging Cultures Project
Njalikwa Chongwe
Merging cultures is a project that draws from my experience of over 25 years as a studio potter. The key inspiration of this developmental phase has been my engagement with traditional potters in Zambia. To coincide with the launch of Merging Cultures Website Thursday July 3 will see the opening of the Merging Culture Exhibition at Gallows Gallery in Mosman Park, Perth Western Australia.
I visited three different pottery areas within Zambia. Two were individual potters from the Tonga Tribe in the South and a group of Ngoni potters on the eastern side of the country. The groups shared similarities but also were significantly different many ways in particular in respect to working individually or collaboratively.The Tonga are individuals who prefer their own company while working whereas the Ngonis will work side by side with their fellow potters or individually.
What unified these potters was that after overcoming their initial shyness they were very happy that someone was interested in there work and its history. As can happen in villages in Zambia when someone arrives with a camera word quickly spreads and people come out of the woodwork to see what's happening and in this case the potters where the centre of attention.
Our interest in the potters elevated the status amongst their fellow villagers who ordinarily wouldn't have given their activities the time of day and they soon attracted a crowd.
This was the most gratifying aspect of my visit ; the hope one of the youngsters who followed us around may take an interest and continue a tradition that is sadly on the decline in the villages.
Ngoni Potters
The Ngoni potters of Zambia's eastern province are happy to work individually while their making pots but are equally at ease working in the company of their fellow potters. They make their pots in tin bowl moulds with coils forming the main method of construction.
The Ngoni potters of Zambia's eastern province are happy to work individually while their making pots but are equally at ease working in the company of their fellow potters. They make their pots in tin bowl moulds with coils forming the main method of construction.
Tonga Potters
The Tonga unlike the Ngonis work on there own and consider it bad luck to work together with there fellow potters.They believe doing so will cause their pots to crack. Who can access the clay source is also strictly controlled and is only available to particular Tonga clans.
The Tonga unlike the Ngonis work on there own and consider it bad luck to work together with there fellow potters.They believe doing so will cause their pots to crack. Who can access the clay source is also strictly controlled and is only available to particular Tonga clans.
Before beginning my research with traditional potters in Zambia I had no doubt that my work would be influenced by this period of study and development but the unknown factor was what works would follow. My assumption was that the opportunity to watch traditional potters working would be the key creative influence and of course it was a strong element but just as significant were the stories I heard and the environments within which these potters live and practice.
Reflecting on my days spent embroiled the village potters practice, I studied their techniques, their hands, tools, materials drawing on their expertise, however I was surprised and intrigued by what has had the greatest influence on me.... their stories, journeys, lives, laughter and work spaces.
One aspect of the project was to re-establish my own traditional links to clay and Ngoni potters in the Eastern Province of Zambia which I can trace back to my paternal great grandmother. The time spent amongst my own Ngoni people enabled me to reignite thoughts and ideas and then reflect on my own childhood experiences when I spent significant periods of time in my family’s village.
Retracing facets of my own childhood where I spent significant periods in my family’s village also influenced the exhibitions works. This village is part of the same region where I studied traditional Ngoni potters.
The visit to my traditional village lead to me recalling how a lot of the older women in the village including my grandmother Celina had visible initiation marks on their faces. This is a theme that runs through the Merging Cultures series and the significance of this creative influence is my great grandmother who had similar initiation marks was a village potter.
Sitting amidst the Ngoni women potters bought back memories of the initiation markings on the face of my grandmother Celina and many other older village women. Soft rounded shapes in a line stretched from the hairline to the nose, scars formed by rubbing dirt into small cuts to signify women hood. This a theme that runs through the Merging Cultures series and the significance of this creative influence is my great grandmother who had similar initiation marks was a village potter.
The Merging Cultures Exhibition at Gallows Gallery is the first of two exhibitions and the next is next at Twaya Gallery in Zambia. My hope is that people who visit the exhibitions will recognise elements in these works of their home environments and also be transported to different place.
Reflecting on my days spent embroiled the village potters practice, I studied their techniques, their hands, tools, materials drawing on their expertise, however I was surprised and intrigued by what has had the greatest influence on me.... their stories, journeys, lives, laughter and work spaces.
One aspect of the project was to re-establish my own traditional links to clay and Ngoni potters in the Eastern Province of Zambia which I can trace back to my paternal great grandmother. The time spent amongst my own Ngoni people enabled me to reignite thoughts and ideas and then reflect on my own childhood experiences when I spent significant periods of time in my family’s village.
Retracing facets of my own childhood where I spent significant periods in my family’s village also influenced the exhibitions works. This village is part of the same region where I studied traditional Ngoni potters.
The visit to my traditional village lead to me recalling how a lot of the older women in the village including my grandmother Celina had visible initiation marks on their faces. This is a theme that runs through the Merging Cultures series and the significance of this creative influence is my great grandmother who had similar initiation marks was a village potter.
Sitting amidst the Ngoni women potters bought back memories of the initiation markings on the face of my grandmother Celina and many other older village women. Soft rounded shapes in a line stretched from the hairline to the nose, scars formed by rubbing dirt into small cuts to signify women hood. This a theme that runs through the Merging Cultures series and the significance of this creative influence is my great grandmother who had similar initiation marks was a village potter.
The Merging Cultures Exhibition at Gallows Gallery is the first of two exhibitions and the next is next at Twaya Gallery in Zambia. My hope is that people who visit the exhibitions will recognise elements in these works of their home environments and also be transported to different place.
The Merging Cultures Exhibition by Njalikwa Chongwe