Soft-sculpture Dolls

On display in the Jo Thorpe Collection are a number of soft-sculpture dolls made by traditional Zulu women from Ndwedwe in KwaZulu-Natal for sale to tourists and art-collectors. These delightful works depict scenes from the cultural life of the women who make them.

Thembi Mchunu is the initiator of this craft, having sold her first doll to Jo Thorpe, Director of Durban's African Art Centre in 1982. Like her mother before her, Thembi would make beadwork for tourists. "One day we came to Jo, the shop was full, we all had bead(work), the trouble was that Jo could not buy all these beads which were one and the same type... It was then that I remembered, 'Oh! when we were young we were playing with dolls, what if I make one?'... I made one and I put clothes on it. I took it to Jo, she loved it, she wanted more dolls and I made them... "1

Sizakele Nojiyeza and
Celani Nojiyeza

Thembi was joined by Sizakele Nojiyeza (nee Mchunu) and her sisters, Mavis and Thandi, from neighbouring Emaphephethweni. Despite sharing ideas, each sister exhibited her individuality by producing works on favored themes. The concerns of Sizakele and Thandi was with their traditional world of marriage, motherhood and home, while Mavis embraced the wider experience of sport and town-life. Joining this group were Celani, co-wife to Sizakele, and their husband's sister Gabi-Gabi. Two other talented women, Khulumelaphi Hlambisa and Zanele Shangase work alone at their craft but are inspired by the other doll-makers.2

What motivates these women is a combination of creative satisfaction and the desire for financial independence. Their creativity is inspired by recalling the joys of childhood games, traditional umbondo (bridal gift-giving), beer-brewing and dance competitions for dolls. The makers trace their present competitiveness to produce the best doll to these early games.

The most basic doll type is the costume-doll, often dressed to display the coveted status of a Makoti (bride), as in Bride and attendant by Celani Nojiyeza.4 This doll's cape is a recycled piece of traditional beadwork, a shoulder-band (amadavathi) typical of the local style of beading, worn to respect (ukuhlonipha) the husband, his family and ancestral-spirits. The beautifying of dress with beads (ihlobisa) is a part of ukuhlonipha, "...yes, what one is doing here (in beading) is beautifying but one is also respecting."5 By implication, the beading of these dolls is done to honour both the work and the audience.

Some dolls are self-portraits, as for example, Wedding gifts which shows a bride carrying gifts (umbondo) to her husband's home.6 This doll dates from the time when the maker, Sizakele Nojiyeza was herself finally married: she arrived at the African Art Centre in full bridal regalia and the staff toasted her good fortune. The cloth-wrapped frame supporting the figure refers to the arch under which the bride is posed in a photographic studio in town, as a record of the occasion.7