Magodi - Noxolo
Zizipho Poswa South African
Noxolo's form abstracts a magodi, a traditional African hairstyle, which the artist associates with memories of her aunt, for whom the work is named. The bowls stacked atop the piece evoke hair piled high on Noxolo's head, and the bowls on the side reference her fondness for twisting and wrapping her hair into Bantu knots. The massive work was not formed on a pottery wheel but was gathered, coiled, pinched, and smoothed, using precise movements akin to those necessary for realizing the hairstyles they represent. Noxolo is part of Poswa's Magodi series of large-scale, three-dimensional abstract portraits inspired by the community of women that raised her.