Ukhamba (2)

Ukhamba is the term for blackened vessels that are used during rituals within Zulu culture for serving and drinking beer; pots used for communing with the ancestors. Out of all the vessels within Zulu culture, izinkamba transcend their definition as pots: they are objects of ritual. They have been described almost as people themselves . Such defines the context of the individualised artistic importance of Jabulile’s vessels. Her mother, Nesta, was the first to redefine these cosmologically rooted objects into works of art – hers were the first to enter the gallery space in the late 20th century. Her daughter, Jabulile has innovated even further: compressing the round belly of the ukhamba, providing a larger surface on which to incise and sculpt a myriad of minute geometric structures, such as is seen on Ukhamba (2). To hold the ukhamba is to remember a long tradition of art and ritual. To transform the ukhamba is to keep the pot alive, to sustain a vital force.