Hello and welcome to Episode Forty Six of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I'm your host, Hannah!
If you enjoy the podcast subscribe, tell a friend, or write us a review!
The English Language Transcript can be found below
But as always we start with Reader's Advisory!
The Reader's Advisory for Episode Forty Six is So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. If you like the sound of So You Want to Talk About Race you should also check out: How to Be An Antiracist by Abram X. Kendi, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, and Speaking of Race by Patricia Roberts-Miller.
Bonus segment my personal favorite Goodreads list So You Want to Talk About Race is on is Durham Tech Equity & Inclusion Council Book List
Happy Reading Everyone
Today’s Library Tidbit comes to us from the Adult Services Librarian and is on Ndebele art.
On February 8th the library will be holding a program on creating Ndebele inspired artwork. It will probably be full or past by the time you hear this podcast, however, that does not mean that you cannot learn about and experience Ndebele art for yourself! The Largo Public Library also has a few books on Ndebele art that you can check out to gain a deeper understanding.
Ndebele art is the traditional artwork of the Southern Ndebele people of South Africa. Traditionally it is the art tradition of the women of the Ndebele people. The tradition began with woman painting their houses and while it is still traditionally used as house painting it has also been transferred to canvas and at least one BMW art car.
One of the most well-known Ndebele artists is Esther Mahlangu. Mahlangu learned Ndebele from her mother and grandmother. It is important in Ndebele house painting to paint straight lines. When Mahlangu was 10, after watching her mother and grandmother paint their house and wanting to join in, she picked up a chicken feather and tried her hand. She says she was scolded by her mother and grandmother for not painting straight lines and forbidden from trying again. However, she was not dissuaded and kept trying until her mother and grandmother gave her a section of the house, in the back where it would not be visible, to practice until she had learned the craft.
Ndebele house painting is categorized with straight lines, geometric patterns, and bold colors. Traditionally these held meaning for the Ndebele people and were a way to communicate to others information such as, marriages, births, death, etc. After the Boer wars, through British expansion, and finally through apartheid Ndebele house painting was a way to express resistance and spread information through the community without the colonizing force knowing. Another aspect of the tradition was that a woman painted her first house when she got married and if the lines were straight the family assumed that she was a good wife and could take care of her family.
The walls of houses are white-washed before the lines and patterns are painted in black. The patterns are filled in with colors. Traditionally the pigments used were only colors that could be created using natural pigments. However, modern Ndebele painters use acrylic paints and therefore the colors used in Ndebele house painting has grown. The geometric patterns traditionally used in Ndebele house painting are triangles, chevrons, rectangles, and circles. The patterns tend to be repeated with different colors being used to fill it in.
Since the 1980s, Esther Mahlangu has traveled the world spreading the knowledge of Ndebele house painting and teaching others. Mahlangu has collaborated with global brands, such as BMW, Belvedere vodka, Eytys, and Fiat to name a few. She has also been invited to exhibit in 12 countries around Europe, Africa, and the US. Mahlangu has opened an art school to pass on the tradition and worried that it may die out she has begun to teach boys as well as girls.
