Meet the Artists: Chuma Maweni

Meet Chuma Madeni, one of the many contemporary artists whose work is featured in Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room.

For generations, people have met around the kitchen table to share meals, stories, and dreams with one another. Communal gatherings like these are called imbizo in the Xhosa language.

To design his table and stools on view in the exhibition, Maweni drew inspiration from across time and space, from traditional Nguni vessels, which inform his patterns, to futuristic kitchens, where communities of the past and present meet. Here, in this house, knowledge is passed in a cycle, much like the carved rings created by the turning of Maweni’s pottery wheel.

Take a virtual tour of the exhibition to explore further.


Contributors

Managing Producer: Kate Farrell
Producer: Melissa Bell
Editor: Lela Jenkins
Graphic Design: Abby Chen
Music: Austin Fisher
Photographs: Paul Lachenauer

Special thanks: Chuma Maweni, Sarah Lawrence, Ian Alteveer, Ana Matisse Donefer-Hickie, Claire Lanier, Victoria Martinez, Sofie Andersen


A vibrant art studio scene with figures and bright colors. Foreground has a table with art supplies and flowers.
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Imbizo Table, Chuma Maweni  South African, Carved glazed ceramic, carved and ebonized Kiaat wood
Chuma Maweni
2018–21
Imbizo Stool, Chuma Maweni  South African, Carved glazed ceramic
Chuma Maweni
2018–21
Imbizo Stool, Chuma Maweni  South African, Carved glazed ceramic
Chuma Maweni
2018–21