Homegirl Art Gallery     Running Elephant Boy Print Series SOLD OUT- Only Original Painting on Handmade Paper remains $2,000.00 This original painting was completed after spending several weeks in the provinces of South Africa in various Ndzundza Ndebele village enclaves. In one particular area, I had been observing a young man with a club foot, who did not let his different abilities keep him from making an income and being of service to others. He would carry bundles of all sorts and sizes for anyone who would pay him, and for several older ladies who would feed him. I never did find out where he lived, or his real name, just that he was called 'boy-boy'. He could be seen early and late in any day, running errands past very able, seated men. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     4 SPECIAL SALE -The Wedding Dancers [African Dawn Print Series] $200.00 The original painting was completed after spending several days at the wedding events of a close friend. During the second phase, the more traditional Sotho stage of the wedding activities, the new bride was brought by her mother and relatives to the home of her husband. He dances from his front door down to the front gate and meets his new bride. He crosses the threshold of the gate to receive her and bring her into his estate/homestead. She is dancing as well, and once inside the gates of her new home, they dance together, now with the same rhythm and step pattern. They continue hand in hand laughing together, as we, in the crowd of relatives and friends, cheer them on, chanting in rhythm with the couple, as they make their way dancing to the front porch. Once arriving at the front of the house, they are seated together on a swing and a blanket is thrown around their shoulders. They are now the new husband and wife of this manor, and ready to receive their guests into the second of three receptions during their long wedding day. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     King’ Birthday Party, 1996 $600.00 King’ Birthday Party, 1996 – This photograph focuses on the Ndzundza Ndebele women gathering from across the provinces to celebrate King Mayitjha III’s 44th birthday. These women are wearing their traditional Middelburg blankets, which picture their married status. In addition to their traditional ‘dzilla,’ brass neck, arm and leg rings, several women have on Christian Dior sunglasses. Just two years after the beginning of South Africa’s democratic transition, objects of western culture are invading the ritual adornment of indigenous Ndebele women. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Ms. Elisabeth’s Handmaiden, 1998 $600.00 Ms. Elisabeth’s Handmaiden, 1998 – This photograph is taken of Ms. Elisabeth Mahlangu and her granddaughter, Anna in front of the exterior wall gate at the home of Ms. Elisabeth. I have been staying in my own little building on their compound for some time documenting their daily life. Anna comes to her grandmother’s home every morning to do her chores, before she walks off to school. One day Anna asks, if I will take her picture and she says she wants to “dress up.” I say “yes,” and agree to take a portrait of her the next morning. In my mind I thought she would come in traditional Ndebele attire for a young un-initiated girl her age. She arrives wearing her ‘best dress’ and I shoot this photograph. Once again, the past for Ndebele and the future for Ndebele are caught together in this ‘present’ moment. The wall patterns on Ms. Elisabeth’s wall are unique family symbols, which have been repainted in the exact same mode after every rainy season for 34 years. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Portrait of Johanna, 1996 $600.00 Portrait of Johanna, 1996 – Ms. Joanna Mahlangu is pictured beading her characteristic ‘bubble-weave’ necklaces in the courtyard of her home, where she has painted all the walls. Ms. Johanna was one of the first Ndebele women I met in Mpumalanga Province. She explains to me her concerns that the walls “no longer speak,” because expressive family symbols were being eased out of Ndebele wall design patterns and being replaced with external “English” symbols in fashion. Her walls still proudly display her family signs, from her particular Mahlangu clan. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Portrait of Mr. Ndimande, 2001 $600.00 Portrait of Mr. Ndimande, 2001 – Mr. Mjanyelwa Daniel Ndimande is a noted Inyanga, traditional healer within the Ndzundza Ndebele nation. He is the product of five generations within his family of traditional healers. He was trained by his grandfather beginning at age 11. Mr. Ndimande works with herbs, knows the unique properties of thousands of plants, and recognizes specifically the healing properties of wild animals, small insects and snakes. He knows how to “throw the bones” to consult the ancestors, and is renowned throughout the provinces for killing a crocodile and living to tell the story. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Portrait of Ms. Elisabeth, 1998 $600.00 Portrait of Ms. Elisabeth, 1998 – Ms. Elisabeth Mahlangu is an Ndzundza Ndebele living in Limpopo Province in the historic Nebo District. She is a co-wife with Ms. Anna to Mr. Robert Mahlangu. She is pictured here before the death of her husband in 2002. At that time she had a brassmaker saw off the lovely, though weighty brass and copper neck rings, which announce her marital status. For centuries, these brass neck rings have been the unique adornment of Ndebele married women in South Africa. Each one weighs a kilo, about 2 pounds. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Pour You Out A Blessing, 1998 $600.00 Pour You Out A Blessing, 1998 – This photograph is taken from a great distance away during the libation ceremonies at the close of a female initiation service. The elder men are pouring brewed beer from calabash to calabash for drinking, to celebrate the initiation of their daughters, granddaughters or nieces. The women have spent all night, literally, brewing (boiling) the grain for this beer, but it is the men who drink it. They tell the women it will make them fat to keep from sharing this delicacy. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Simunye, 2001 $600.00 Simunye, 2001 – Simunye is a Zulu word meaning, “We are one.” The young men pictured are newly initiated Ndzundza Ndebele sons and grandsons, who are singing a praise chant to their female elders across the road. I run across the road to the men’s side and stand for a few moments behind the young men to get the perspective in this shot. I quickly go back to my ‘place’ on the women’s side of the road. This praise song/chant continues for an hour on the final day of the men’s three-month initiation season. These are new men who have “been to the mountain.” [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     The Hand That Holds The Universe, 1998 $600.00 The Hand That Holds The Universe, 1998 – This photograph displays the hand and forearm of Mrs. Anna Mahlangu. Ms. Anna traditionally sits with her hands inside of her blanket, but I spent one morning coaxing her to place her hands outside of the blanket. She remains silent and motionless for some time, then suddenly places her hand on her knee for a few seconds, enabling me to capture this historic shot. The brass rings denote her married status. Since this photograph was taken, her husband has deceased and she has had her rings sawed off. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Kwena $600.00 The Nguni word for crocodile is Kwena. These nine and fourteen foot beauties are living in a Crocodile Park in South Africa. I watched them all day from early morning fights during feeding for a few dead chickens to late day snoozes, long and deep in the hot afternoon sun. Just as I was about to leave, I leaned into the area to take a few last shots, when the one big guy near the front of the pack opened his mouth to allow this diverse group shot with a jaw, a tail and a hind claw. I love the patterns and textures of their body amour. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Incan Doorway $600.00 My first trip to Machu Picchu was in 1989, during the winter months in Peru. After a long train ride and a tumultuous jeep ride to the top, My traveling companion and I split up to tour the mountain places and meditate for the day on the peaks overlooking deep valleys. I could understand why the Inca felt they were communing with universal forces in these lofty, stone places. I was lagging behind one tour group and found myself in this chamber alone for several minutes. I was able to breathe in the order and structure here and focused on the doorway as a portal to understanding form in an ancient society. [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]     Solar Shaker Amulet $550.00 Gold Coral Tubes and 6 mm Rounds, Gold Fresh Water Pearls, Tiger Iron Barrels, Swarovski Faceted 4mm Bronze Rounds, Tunisian Metal Cones, Pyrite 8mm Rounds, Quartz 4mm Rounds, Herikimer Diamonds, Miyuki Shoji Glass Beads, Gold Vermeil Toggle Clasp [Add to Cart]  [View Cart]