Doyle Wham is delighted to present the first worldwide solo exhibition of Umseme Uyakhuluma, an all-female artistic collective whose eponymous project is inspired by ancient forms of communication on the African continent. Umseme Uyakhuluma: A Celestial Conversation documents the journey of two women who answer a calling to perform a ritual enabling them to spiritually reconnect with the land and heal their bloodline. This calling first came to the artist Zana Masombuka (aka Ndebele Superhero) in a dream and led her to form the Umseme Uyakhuluma collective.
The phrase “Umseme Uyakhuluma” means “when the straw mat speaks” and refers to one of Africa’s oldest methods of recording information through the weaving of straw mats (umseme). Traditionally, messages were woven into mats in the form of symbols, a practice which continues today among Bantu people across the African continent. This includes the Ndebele in South Africa, who are renowned for their richly symbolic geometric designs and vivid colour palette. This colour palette plays a significant role in the Umseme Uyakhuluma series, representing the different states of spiritual transformation the women experience.
In the opening scene, the women glisten in deep blue hues as they exit the physical realm and enter a joint dream state. Cowry shells are symbolically placed on their foreheads, shoulders and palms - areas of the body used by healers to facilitate the opening of energy channels (a concept within African spiritualism that is akin to chakras), while their shimmering skin signals rebirth. Next, bathed in amber light, they encounter two large stones, representing the Bantu symbol for “pride”. This phase of the ritual is centred around the dissolution of the ego and the embracing of duality. This is fundamental to the healing process as, in Ndebele culture, there is no singular. Duality is omnipresent, for example in the relationship between the physical and the spiritual, oneself and one’s ancestors, and in the communion with the natural environment. At last, the women surrender themselves to the fire, a powerful metaphor for resurrection and renewal. In this scene, the intense reds represent the purging of pain, a necessity for healing to take place. With the ritual complete, they return to the physical world and for the first time, we see the women in daylight. They are adorned with “Umbobo”, lines that Ndebele women traditionally tattoo on their faces to symbolise beauty, and wear colourful straw mats as a symbol of their higher, connected, consciousnesses.
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The Umseme Uyakhuluma collective is made up of Zana Masombuka (aka Ndebele Superhero), Lafalaise Dion, Tsholofelo Maseko, Mapula Lehong, Boipelo Khunou and Bontle Juku. The core team were supported by a larger crew of African women of all ages. The series was shot in the KwaNdebele region of South Africa.
The exhibition runs at our Shoreditch gallery from the 5th of October until the 7th of December 2024.
