African Vernacular Symbols of Black Intersex Children in Sinethemba Ngubane's Installations (2007-2016)

Sinethemba Ngubane is an artist who works predominantly in the medium of ceramics but includes sculptures in large installations. She was born in 1991 in Durban, South Africa, and completed a national diploma in Fine Art in 2014 and Bachelor's degree with distinction at Durban University of Technology in 2015. She has exhibited in academic group shows in KZNSA Gallery, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko Art Gallery, and artists’ group shows in art space, Durban. Ngubane is currently studying for a Master in Fine Art degree at Durban University of Technology. She is an award winner of the Emma Smith Scholarship.This paper critically analyzes the vernacular symbols of Black intersex children articulated in her works produced between 2007 and 2016 and the ideas they convey. In defining “vernacular, ” Gupta and Adams (2018: 2) posit that “vernacular defines that which is domestic or indigenous. ” While the definition of “vernacular” implies “indigenous, ” this does not mean Ngubane's artworks are indigenous African art or its continuation; the term is adopted in theorizing her contemporary African art for representing symbolism rooted in cultural practices and experiences that are indigenous to Africa. In this context, it is in discourse with installations that represent human elements and symbols deeply rooted in African cultures. Flowever, such portrayals in Ngubane's installation sculptures may reference not identifiable cultural elements, but rather symbols associated with certain cultural practices against Black inters ex children in Zulu culture. This focus on her installations is significant, not merely because she is a Black female artist on the African continent who is marginalized in mainstream art historical discourse, but because her installations contribute an important thematic nuance to African art. Although Ngubane is a young, practicing contemporary African artist, her inclusion in a mainstream paper was informed by her unique mode of exploring the distorted bodies of those Black children in art. This paper thus contributes an art historical discourse on the artist's vernacular symbolism to global African art history. This is also significant for South Africa, as her works contribute narratives of different forms of contemporary distortions to a national history that had been marred with tortured and distorted bodies from apartheid brutality.In this paper, the term “intersex” is defined as the condition of a child whose sex deviates from “male” or “female” because he or she mixes anatomical components of both sexes that do not correspond to typical definitions of male and female (Husakouskaya 2013: 11; Jenkins and Short 2017: 92). To interrogate Ngubane's installation sculptures that reflect on the vernacular symbols of those children, five works were selected: Rebirth of Bio-politics (2015) (Figs. 1-5), Nonkiloyi (2016) (Fig. 6a-b), Impaired (2016) (Fig. 7), Gaze of Disfigured (2016) (Fig. 8), and Excavated (2016) (Fig. 9). The contents and contexts of these works are interrogated through formal analysis and cultural history. Formal analysis interrogates the formal elements of each installation and the ideas the portrayal may convey, while cultural history situates the context in the history invoked in the work. These are combined with visual hermeneutics theory, which is adopted to narrate1 the experiences in the works by returning to history (Tolia-Kelly and Morris 2004: 158). The following research questions guided the interrogation: What cultural imageries did Ngubane depict in her installation sculptures? What ideas does the analysis of the works reveal? The discussion focuses on Ngubane's media and how she takes a unique artistic path in coming to terms with symbolisms she considers African, as well as why she represents such cultural symbolism in contemporary African art. Another focus is Ngubane's personal influences, frame of reference, knowledge base, ideological stances, and philosophy.As a young, contemporary African artist, Ngubane's sources of inspiration are the bodies of young Black intersex children from the Zulu cultural group rooted in South African space. In an interview, Ngubane says, “The sources of my installations are the indigenous cultures in South Africa. I produce sculptures on specific subjects in ways other artists might not have done.”2 While it appears she is filling a gap in visual culture with a variety of bodies of Black intersex babies, similar depictions of distorted and mutilated bodies are evident in contemporary South African art. But in explaining the kinds of images she portrays in her terracotta installations, Ngubane affirms that, “in my works, I focus on the human body and how people use such human flesh for rituals and sacrifices. Specifically, I focus on the bodies of intersex babies, and societal attitude towards them. ” (Although her works reflect events in her Zulu culture, they embody not cultural symbols but the distressed bodies of young African children she identified as intersex.) When asked how she discovered this information. Ngubane's response is, “from the South African police and newspapers. ”When Ngubane is asked about the focus of her works, she simply says, “My sculptures are associated with the social life in rural and urban areas, but on the subject of rituals among some Black South Africans who want to start business and want the business to prosper. ” It is, however, contestable that ritual murders (muti) of Black intersex children have been practiced by some Black South Africans only in the contemporary era; such murders in Zulu culture date back to the 1900s (Turrell 2001: 22). Arguably, such murders occur mostly because of the myth that such rituals provide riches, protection, fame, and power at the expense of other peoples lives. Ngubane says, regarding the dominant ideology her works convey to their audience, “My ideology in these works reflects [myths that invoke] greed and ignorance in denying an intersex baby the right to life. This is done by considering such a child abominable, thereafter; the child is killed and used for rituals. ” This appears to be the major factor that influenced the production of her works. As Ngubane claims, “I was influenced to produce my kind of sculptures because of the concern I have for the killings of such babies. ” Ngubane suggests that her sculptures are created as social and moral commentaries to challenge ritual murders and their denial of intersex babies’ right to life.Expatiating on her continued use of vernacular symbols in her work, she declares, “I still represent them in contemporary artworks because there are no other symbols that reflect this present focus. ” Ngubane justifies her focus on the representations of intersex as necessary, noting that there is no other subject worthy of her attention. This is because she is adopting a visual activism approach in confronting such deliberate and targeted ritual murders of Black intersex African children. Moreover, as the biological conditions of the children represented are not very distinct (except in one piece), her works might be taken for the mutilated bodies of young Black children in general rather than intersex alone.Another aspect central to her works is her media. She works with clay and gelatine mixed with glue and water (Peffer 2009: 42). She glazes each piece after it is dried and fired, to create a color effect like that of a decomposing body. Ngubane observes of her terracota installations that “I was interested in ceramics at the beginning of my practice, but later had a redirection towards sculpture. So I combine sculpture and ceramic techniques in creating my installations. ” This accounts for the glossy effect on her terracotta installation sculptures, because she adopted the ceramic technique of glazing to her subsequent medium.At the conclusion of our dialogue in 2017, she observed that “the receptions to my works have been impressive so far—in fact, I won an award for the kind of works I am producing. ” Although she is not the first artist to focus on mutilated bodies, the novelty in her work comes from the idea she frames around intersex as protest art. Consequently, the award seems to have spurred her to work harder. In discussing the patronage of her works and the reactions of audience, she claims that “people are easily attracted to my kind of works because the concepts and contents are altogether new, so they ask a lot of questions to understand what the works mean. In addition, I also enjoy patronage of my works from some other people. ” This is certainly part of Sinethemba Ngubane's achievement: Her installation sculptures come as a surprise because they reveal strange cultural practices that are not known to many in the contemporary era.My interrogation of Ngubane's vernacular symbols in installation sculptures begins with Rebirth of Bio-Politics (2015) (Fig. 1). In explaining this title, Ngubane claims, “I gave the title to the distorted bodies of intersex babies, because they reveal an aspect in biology that is debated and contested. ” It is inaccurate, however, for Ngubane to claim that there is a scientific debate on the mere existence of intersex babies; research conducted in 1970, for instance, revealed that “intersex syndromes have been recognized in South Africans’ different racial groups” since the 1960s (Hatherley 1970: 3).This establishes that intersex babies exist not only among Blacks and Whites but among other races in South Africa. Ngubane's installation sculpture, however, references different stages of mutilation in eight bodies of Black babies. These displayed bodies are “exactingly rendered as if they were zoological specimens” (Peffer 2009: 62). Reference to zoological specimens arises because the figures evoke not merely skeletons but severely mutilated bodies. Who is responsible for such mutilations? The “family members and ritualists are responsible” (Peffer 2009: 62). Similarly, mutilation appears in the work of South African artist Penny Siopis, whose works also suggest the massacre of children, albeit not intersex (Neke 1999: 7). Although different degrees of decomposition are depicted in the formal elements of Ngubane's installations, a visible inconsistency appears in the level of decomposition in the same body (Peffer 2009: 58). Such artistic style of representation is a coded indictment of the tortures inflicted on the Black intersex children. For example, while the second figure from the left in Figure 1 shows a high level of decomposition or mutilation on the body, the head appears to be that of a sleeping child. From the left side of the installation, the first body represents the back view, with a normal-shaped head but severely distorted body. It is, however, contestable whether the last two figures on the right were not buried together; this is implied from their positions, which evoke conjoined babies, with heads placed in different directions.Likewise, the third and sixth figures show various degrees of mutilation, which reveal rib bones painted white, while all other parts show dismembered arms and legs (see Figs. 2-5 for of the mutilated While the formal of the body in Figure of the the to at the child to at because of the inflicted in But Figure shows a of mutilation and the body, which that an from a formal of the figure in Figure not merely a but also an It a body that was with all the it like a or to This not only the of but the of intersex (Neke The by cultural on Black intersex is revealed in Figure In this context, while the and of the body are the head This implies that the body parts dismembered or were the the cultural of these killings and the of them may be to who in the right to life (Turrell 2001: the of intersex in South Africa, intersex was first in South at the between and (Hatherley 1970: While there are no on intersex people in South in the because African cultures were not to have for the in the contemporary have that African cultures do have for the used to people with both male and female or in African cultures For example, in the is to as in in and in South Africa, in Zulu culture. these the of intersex in the as intersex suggests that the intersex in South between and at that (Husakouskaya 2013: are different for of intersex in other parts of the For example, in while there are no research that focuses on intersex suggests that of of people in are born intersex In and it has been that about 1 in to has an intersex the of intersex conditions and the social associated with used to for the of but in the and to this and Short 2017: For instance, in the in not merely but from as the of sex of intersex people and Short 2017: they the of in the In the challenge associated with in a South African Ngubane claims she who was and because he was he had an on to the female it and he ” This is why she was to start creating that are at to the of intersex and the societal to intersex babies. In rural Black such babies are as so they are ” While on the one this at the some to intersex babies, on the other it societal in a approach to sex Jenkins and Short it might be that this the of intersex people that these installations reflect babies, they that “in African the with and the depictions to of condition and to it through (Peffer 2009: In this Ngubane appears to have been guided by a that intersex babies because of a that they are Although Ngubane's works focus on intersex and the attitude them in the Black South African in other work, she to targeted at Black intersex children. This is in her 2016 installation Nonkiloyi (Fig. This title cultural as it an indigenous Zulu that ” but in this context, is used to to and in Zulu culture in South Africa. But in Zulu culture, is the term used for not Although in the African may not the focus is on the use of in intersex babies. is defined as “the the of It the use of or power in For this Africans may they are and to by and in South and other parts of Africa, of are killed they are the mode of is at the it is among artists in South the media she have their The formal elements a human a to the piece of the there is a on one while the other has they are both the their by a and a to a of such as It be that this head as a work of art a ritual in an African culture, to the to the of the the other the heads are not but symbols in that in them no power to or Ngubane they are symbols of what known as water and after a Black intersex child of certain to and on them. ” It be that the of the is to the targeted child in a of this installation be that the head in the is that of a in the and because in some a is in the at a is used to the The ritual is so that the and at of the body reveal the on the head as an that the cultural history of in African The history of as a social may be to the which it was a in many African But in some parts of Africa, it was that was a or in the he or she was or in or and In the show that of among Black Africans among the of the the of to human and But the in South Africa, Blacks that their of them at were taken they were to by As a of the of police that between and people were killed in a in Ngubane the of this figure is to suggest the of “intersex children through not merely to them but for other such as to power or African practiced by some in Zulu of towards intersex children. such defines “the associated with Consequently, is an because while the associated with the their they a Black intersex child as to and This portrayal a not to but a for the or to as a In this installation, Ngubane seems to have been guided by a that the life of a Black intersex child is and not be taken through In the installation, Impaired (2016) (Fig. 7), a different is While the title suggests the of the work young African bodies a It Ngubane says, at a that the bodies of intersex babies and in ritual ” Although it may contestable to that the bodies are in it be that “the central a child or 2017: and a a ritual such an may evoke an or of ritual it of tortured bodies and 2009: This is to a of ritual of that was among the people of in the that rather than their were a and the they were left to 2013: While that for because of they were not killed for ritual In this context, such of those Black intersex children a works conditions of the human body in (Peffer 2009: by South African artists such as and whose works are to rituals in African they be in their cultural context cultural history the experiences of bodies in ritual in African and In the Zulu ritual murders were associated with power to in (Turrell 2001: 22). But between the 1900s and their on ritual In contemporary South African there are of in an indigenous Zulu many of the In urban in these killings to of of a child it is that that they have the 2017: 1). the other these symbols reveal the of who claim to intersex babies because of a that they are or it is for is by the of this Ngubane that such ritual are not merely for but for the babies’ by ritualists who to be of ” Arguably, it defines in who had and convey and 2017: 1). those this do it of not what they do to or that Sinethemba Ngubane her sculpture to the to so as to intersex babies the to rather than them. It be that the that her is on a of African that the biological conditions of intersex children, they be Another installation sculpture with the title Gaze of Disfigured (2016) (Fig. This title seems to ask to a at a dismembered body. The context shows a figure which references the and body of an intersex African child. It shows a of by the and of flesh rooted in the Zulu the which does not seems to be a that, the body of the is taken may around the and the of the (Peffer 2009: formal the work is of clay mixed with While the body the but with no of to from the evident mutilation, there is a around the and an from the of the to the of the similar is evident in sculpture The To a for the a was their and other been ” (Peffer 2009: This suggests that such a is are for Ngubane's sculpture not merely mutilation of and but also of the and To the of the Black African body as in the a male a of the female which at how both in the body of an intersex the cultural history of dismembered bodies in South Africa. Although in the murders were among the and there to be the in the (Turrell 2001: 22). of in which a body is dismembered for have a history in In the two young Black their and body mutilated (Turrell 2001: But in the a in the Zulu cultural group that killings and the use of human are not part of 2017: 1). This suggests that, human are used for these are not for but for a different in Zulu similar of the of in a sculpture by contemporary artist reflect a This suggests that, as the in Ngubane's installation is in the mutilation of body is at with and her that not only an intersex child but be to (Peffer 2009: mutilation a that there is no that are asked but there is that are 1). To that this of a young Black African child is a contemporary practice, Ngubane it is done the rural in South Africa. ” In her view, such are at the body parts for which the to be to or in ” I that is in it is a to it on a around human bodies. Such a at kind of of the produced in of and (Peffer 2009: This the reactions of and who the of as an indictment of human they as human the of a distorted young intersex Black African child is than because it in which the people are with for human flesh (Peffer 2009: it be that Ngubane's idea is guided the of rituals done not with but with the human body. But a different installation sculpture Excavated (2016) (Fig. the of a buried body, which a and (Peffer not of the but the which sculpture and ceramic techniques in represents a body with It have been as terracotta if was not to create visual and the work represents a body that was and a rooted in the rural in Zulu culture. The mixed media for and for the Although the head and parts of the body, it is to an body. that it an a culture, what does the cultural history of this reveal? It the history of the different forms of in South Africa. For example, in the the and of of of the apartheid who in the The of the was to provide to the rather than their the in of is As it is young are in the of the so to known as 2017: 1). While is used as a general for all in Africa, the forms of around the rural or urban of it be that the identified with such only be ritualists who a it and it by with the body 2017: 1). In the vernacular Ngubane claims that of intersex is for of body parts to people that use them for ” This implies that the of from an intersex baby that is to that were to power or (Turrell 2001: this an African of that in Zulu culture. through this installation it be observed that Ngubane portrays a that is guided by the of against of in the visual narratives of Sinethemba contemporary African installation sculptures, the analysis the of vernacular symbols of mutilated bodies of young Black African children identified as the visual culture narratives on the interrogation and societal in with ritualists or to a Black African child But this was towards in the in As part of in the culture of people in it was a to to were strange and they were killed Although is to for the of in culture, there were who also to the of that among them were the who their social in and for than to that were against was only after to 2013: She in the people to the of and of their is a of history to the of Black intersex children in rural in South it be that, like the of in such has a history that to the But in the contemporary the towards intersex people is in the and body for This is similar to the ritual that is against people with as they are also killed and their body parts used for or in some parts of and reveal that the of in parts of at to the and arises from about them. Similarly, as is in this paper, the to and the of a Black intersex child is also because of a (Peffer 2009: 42). This is because some people that the body parts of an intersex baby in a ritual and from the ritual Ngubane's work the of against intersex It of at the life of such young Black African children. As it may be or to their it be that through depictions of different forms of mutilation targeted at Black intersex children in South Africa, Ngubane has created a body of work that the of and their parts in ritual As a of protest she not merely to the but to it in the different cultures it is

Art · Black african · Ethnology · Literature · Sociology · Vernacular · African history and culture studies · Gender Studies · History · South African History and Culture

• Intersex Bodies, Literary Representation and Cultural Intersectionality

  Lara Tortosa-Signes•English Studies in Africa•2025

  Incluir item

• Witchcraft and African development

  Erich Leistner•African Security Review•2014

  Incluir item

• Rethinking gender and human rights through transgender and intersex experiences in South Africa

  Nadzeya Husakouskaya•Agenda•2013

  Incluir item

• Disruptive Aesthetics

  Divya P Tolia-Kelly, Divya Tolia‐Kelly et al.•Third Text•2004

  Incluir item

• Muti Ritual Murder in Natal

  Rob Turrell•South African Historical Journal•2001

  Incluir item

• (Vernacular) photography from Africa

  P Gupta, Tamsyn Adams•Critical Arts•2018

  Incluir item

• Robbing Others to Pay Mary Slessor

  David Lishilinimle Imbua•African Economic History•2013

  Incluir item

• Couples or Doubles

  Philip M Peek•African Arts•2008

  Incluir item

• Negotiating intersex

  Open Access•Roi Livne, Tania M Jenkins et al.•Social Science & Medicine•2017

  Incluir item

• The myths surrounding people with albinism in South Africa and Zimbabwe

  Charlotte Baker, Patricia Lund et al.•Journal of African Cultural Studies•2010

  Incluir item