In the Booth: Cellar Contemporary Hosts Ukuthebulwa Kwe Thoro, Exploring the Parallels of Essence, Possession and Transcendence in Photography and Ndebele Beadwork

Talk by artist Zana Masombuka about her new project. She will explain the meaning of such a title in the Ndebele language, in terms of the importance of "capturing the essence" and the essential in life.

The project aims to honor the history, divine and sacred process of Ndebele beading techniques and parallel that with the varied processes of film photography.

By drawing these parallels the project highlights the spiritual nature of both processes and how they induce a possessive/obsessive and trans-like behaviour amongst those who work in service of both mediums. Therefore, the mediums act as spiritual confessional fields constantly stretching its subjects/artists in both uncomfortable and transcendental ways.

Cellar Contemporary is a project by Davide Raffaelli in collaboration with Camilla Nacci, which offers a contemporary vision through the promotion of young artists.

It combines a space located in the old district of San Martino with an online space, which reinvent the concept of art gallery through the coexistence of physical and virtual dimensions.

Cellarcontemporary.com offers an innovative experience, interaction and acquisition of artworks and not only. Cellar Contemporary is also realizing exclusive external collaborations to create artist’s objects in limited edition.

Zana Masombuka (B. 1995, Siyabuswa, KwaNdebele, South Africa)

Zana Masombuka, a.k.a. ‘Ndebele Superhero’ is a South African visual artist, living and working between Pretoria and her hometown in KwaNdebele, Mpumalanga. Masombuka explores the intersection of identity and culture across a range of different media, including photography, film, sculpture and performance. From these diverse materials, she weaves inspiring visual narratives of arresting aesthetic subtlety, drawing inspiration from her upbringing in the small town of Siyabuswa, in rural KwaNdebele.

Masombuka graduated with a BA in International studies from Stellenbosch University, which informs her work with critical thinking from a global perspective. Therefore,

‘Ndebele Superhero’ is a platform that has allowed

Masombuka to speak of stories on identity, culture, modernity, technology and ritual from the perspective of a 21st-century Ndebele Woman. Masombuka’s work has been exhibited widely across Europe and South Africa.