A ceramic ode to Xhosa
- Andile's ceramics pay homage to his Xhosa culture
- He works with clay to tell narratives and celebrate community
- His pieces often feature his signature ‘scarification’ technique
Clay gives Andile Dyalvane the workable quality he needs to communicate his story. "Through craft, we can travel beyond words and experience something new,” he says. Rooted in his identity as an umXhosa Jolinkhomo Jola clansman, Andile’s creativity flows from a deep fount of ancestral knowledge. "Culture and traditions are energetic passages of memory that remind me of our land, language, practices of respecting the earth,” he says. He expresses these influences in various ways, with the goal of highlighting the importance of celebrating community. Andile applies his signature ‘scarification’ technique to his objects, which also carry the stamped symbols he designs to denote Xhosa words. His work is anchored in the natural world and universal themes of our shared humanity.
Interview
- How would you describe what you do?
- My ceramic objects are born from otherworldly visions that I experience as epiphanies. The making and the story are so vivid, I cannot ignore them. Expressing these visions is imperative to me, it is as crucial as breathing.
- How do you express tradition and innovation in your work?
- Traditions are expressed through forms, textures and colours, as well as collaborative surface treatments and narratives. Innovation amplifies the interpretation of traditions through the rhythms I listen to while creating to particular soundscapes. I also explore structural building techniques.
- What impact does your craft have on the community?
- This work fills me with joy. I also enjoy calling the creative community to participate and bear witness to the craft. It becomes an archival act of shared cultures, and births moments to explore the creative familiarity that connects us.
- What specific techniques and materials do you use?
- I work primarily with clay, coiling it as a method of building. Using my signature ‘scarification’ technique, I lacerate surfaces with incisions and carvings. I use found objects for surface designs. I mainly work with sound, copper and glass, which can be experienced in my most recent body of works, Ingqweji.
Andile Dyalvane is a master artisan: he began his career in 1996 and he started teaching in 1999
Works
Where
Andile Dyalvane
