Zizipho Poswa is a Cape Town-based ceramicist whose large-scale, collectible work takes inspiration from her own narrative as a Xhosa woman and artist living in contemporary South Africa. Alongside lauded South African ceramicist Andile Dyalvane, she co-founded Imiso Ceramics, whose handmade tableware has earned the studio an international following.
Poswa’s abstract yet tactile hand-pinched bowls, vessels and vases celebrate her love of colour and pattern. Her new show of sculptural pieces, ‘iLobola’, is being exhibited at Southern Guild through 1 July 2021.
Q > When did you first fall in love with working with clay?
A > I have always had a love for textures and initially I started working in textile design. It was in 2006 when I decided to fuse my love for textile design and using clay as a medium to express my creativity.
Since then, I grew a fascination for clay and love the idea of working it with my fingers. This gave rise to the pinch range that I produced out of this fascination. The decoration of the pieces drew significantly from the patterns and forms in textile design.
Q > In what period or location have you learnt the most?
A > Each phase of my evolution in the creative work had its own unique features and characters. I have learnt many valuable lessons that have permeated throughout my artistic journey.
Evolving from small to large pieces in the last 4 to 5 years has been both a challenging and enriching period. It is a period that has ignited so many of my creative faculties. It has enhanced my unconventional artistic approach but also drew new audiences and opened new market opportunities for my creative output.
Q > If you could give your 16-year-old self a message (or advice) what would you tell her?
A > Listen to the voice inside of you because it is your most authentic connection to the essence of self.
Remain rooted to who you are as a Black Girl and never seek to be anything else.
Encoded in your genes are many solutions that you may think exist away from you.
Defend and protect your imagination from undue contamination.
Your creativity is your license to freedom.
Q > Which things would you like to include more in your life / and less of?
A > I love the space I am currently in because it allows me to produce work that accords with my values and is reflective of who I am. If I could, I would add a greater appreciation of my work locally.
I would like to see less suffering around me because I think it would have added a different creative dimension to my work. For example, the series Umthwalo, reflecting the struggles of women, was a yearning for freedom. Such a series would have a different twist if our imagination was not dominated by so much suffering as Black women.
Q > Who/what inspires you?
A > I am inspired by my lived experience. I know it is ironic but I am inspired by the prospect of freedom. I am inspired by my culture and the cultural influences that are authentically Afrikan.
I am inspired by the triumphs of Black women in the way they navigate through life.
I am inspired by nature and her ability to produce splendour through colour.
Q > What’s the most satisfying part of your creative process?
A > The most satisfying is bringing my imagination to life. This gives me the sense of a creator, a Goddess of Clay breathing life into creative ideas into formless clay.
Q > In which ways is ‘iLobola’ different to your previous work; in which ways are these new works similar?
A > iLobola is in many ways my most imaginative work. It is also less provocative but highly inspirational.
It deals with a cultural practice that is so often misunderstood yet manages to portray the beauty that exists in it. iLobola uses the serenity and peace of a cow to reflect on the conversations and contradictions that underpin the process of marriage. It conveys a message that seeks to restore the sanctity of the Black family structure.
Zizipho Poswa grew up in the town of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, a stronghold of Xhosa culture. She was raised by her mother, a teacher, who recognised her creativity from a young age and did everything within her means to support it. She studied surface design, majoring in textiles, at the Port Elizabeth Technikon and draws on this textile knowledge to amalgamate the visual stimuli she encounters in her daily life into a simplified pattern language.
Her totemic Umthwalo series is an ode to the load carried by African women and the traditional tasks of gathering wood, collecting water and taking bucket loads of clothing to wash in the river. For the artist, who witnessed these daily rituals as a young girl, this balancing act is analogous to the multiple life-sustaining roles that African women play as they bridge traditional and modern worlds.
Poswa’s work was acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in 2019 and is in important private collections internationally. Her ceramics were included in Deeper than Text, presented by 1stdibs and the Female Design Council at the 1stdibs Gallery in Manhattan in 2019. She has exhibited at Design Miami, PAD London and The Salon Art + Design in New York, and received the prestigious Fellow Award from Ceramic South Africa.
