honestly love when artists draw copious amounts of fanart for a character and then start adding more and more personal touches or headcanons to how they depict them and then just change their name and adopt them as an original character. its like watching nature heal in real time

The Odes to Mambokadzi

(Interpretation and reflections on a passage of culture)

By Chido Muparutsa (18 April 2017)

The Mambokadzi Playing Card Project is a profound piece of work with varied dimensions presented through Game Design, Augmented Reality, Graphic Design and Interactive Arts. The essence of this interactive piece of work is the exploration of Bantu cultural symbols and femininity. The word Mambokadzi is derived from Shona and means Queen. In my opinion, it is affecting that such a project was developed during the annual Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival and was presented as an exhibition during Woman’s Month in South Africa. The residents’ project was funded by Pro Helvetia and opened  as an exhibition on 27 August 2016 at the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct (Johannesburg, South Africa).  

Like Eva Ensler, I too “believe in the power and mystery of naming things. I believe in naming what’s right in front of us because it is often what is most invisible.” I continue to be moved by my experience of the Mambokadzi Card Deck project and exhibition for so many reasons. Seemingly obvious, things like an event or a time were presented as an opportunity for progressive imaginators and creators to share digital tradition that unapologetically speaks to reclaiming Bantu cultural values and redefining femininity.

Through this project, we manage to fill a void created by the continued erosion of black identity in various media and spaces. The Mambokadzi Card Deck was collectively conceptualised, art directed and curated by Regina Kgatle -- a Game Developer from South Africa, Vuyi Chaza – a Graphic Designer & Social Media Consultant from Zimbabwe; and Mr MediaX -- a New Media Artist from South Africa. Phindile Thengeni embodied the energy and being of Mambokadzi in the deck and I narrated the odes that reverberated the essence of the symbolism offered.

I was raised on stories about my people and how they lived their lives when they had an immediate connection to their land. Some stories were of the times of colonialism and revolutionary struggles but rarely about the actual violence that took place. There were very few words that could be used to paint the specifics of these pictures that portrayed individuals shaping the narratives of the struggles for emancipation.  The generation of my parents and grandparents had repressed these harsh memories.  The other stories were about what life became when they moved away from each other and their land for social, political or economic reasons. As a ‘born free’ raised in the city I relied heavily on oral tradition to inform my understanding of the different dimensions of life and how the times had gradually changed.

From these early memories of my childhood I realise that I have always been curious about collective existence in spaces and how everyone plays an active role in life curiously, consciously or otherwise. Of all the stories I was told, I absolutely loved those about supernatural and mystical occurrences. Because of the disconnect some people had to African mythology and symbolism, I had to gauge who to ask these questions.  Over time, these accounts became unnameable -- and one could easily be offended or mistake your curiosity as evidence that your family had dealings with ‘black’ magic. It made sense that there was a distinct disparity when the same narrative was recounted by different sources.

It is through the stories about African mythology and symbolism that I learnt that we as humankind have an undeniable connection to nature. The mystery of existence is best translated or taught to me in the most relatable of ways by nature. Through nature, it’s easy for me to see that I am part of a deeper more mystical reality; I am part of every event that is happening now, has ever happened or ever will happen.

The Odes to Mambokadzi were a complimentary component of the playing card project and were inspired by diverse things. These things included a love for the Muuyu. Baobab tree, that year’s theme for International Women’s Day, oral memory and a desire to re-imagine the stories that I had heard in my present context and in a digital age.  I wanted to try something new – to give a sense of how I perceive my world and work through my reality by using a different language of expression. The challenge this time around was to project history in the moment while drawing from my previous pieces of self-work. I was also reading Deepak Chopra’s The Book of Secrets yet again and he says there are aspects of self that you unlock when you engage with or work on yourself.

I am a firm believer in the Shona proverb – “Ziva kwawakabva kwaunoenda husiku” which loosely translates to know where you are coming from so it may guide your future.  As such, my contribution to Mambokadzi was a way to add more dynamism to the passage of culture that I am creating for my future self.

I become my nature through communion with nature -- the wild living world. I often think about redefining, reclaiming and celebrating my culture and sometimes my femininity as an upside-down experience. These confrontations with self are resembled in the appearance of the Muuyu.Baobab tree which looks like it was removed from the ground, turned upside-down and replanted. As such, the branches look like exposed roots. Though some African tribes who co-exist with the tree in their environment believe in the mysticism and power of the tree, there is one particular legend that resonates with me. Apparently, during the time of the Chimurenga. The Revolutionary Struggle in Zimbabwe, there were spirits that lived in specific Muuyu.Baobab trees. Spirit mediums, most of whom were women would pray to Mwari Musiki. God the Creator at the feet of the great spirit trees for provisions in their time of need. The tree was said to have direct connection to the source Mwari Musiki who obliged vana vevhu.the children of the earth. The tree spoke boldly to vana vevhu and offered itself as shelter, gave them nourishing food and healed them of ailments as they fought against the foreign settlers.

Because the tree is widely distributed in 32 African countries, it provided itself as a means to pull a tangible thread through the different versions of chivanhu.ubuntu that each project contributor lives by. To create the odes, I imagined the spirit of the trees speaking proudly once again. Just like they did in the past, they passed strict messages to vana vevhu, more specifically, to Mambokadzi.  The spirit of the tree adores Mambokadzi because it remembers how they communed and connected to the greater reality. Mambokadzi is the spirit in the tree as much as the tree is her. At this frequency, the tree remindes Mambokadzi that what she seeks she already is: “You are the magic, mystery and the enchantment of being – you are ubuntu, uhuru, hunhu and tsoga.” The spirit of the tree calls Mambokadzi to vast limitlessness of being.

There is a way in which cultural disconnection can create a greater disconnect from the source. We are living in a time where there is greater need to reclaim our heritage, culture and perceptions of self. The Mambokadzi Playing Card Deck is a dynamic piece of digital tradition artefact that coaxes time and space to arrive at an intended effect. It preserves and transmits knowledge, ideas and cultural material digitally from the past and makes it relevant in present day.  The transmission of this experience is through Game Design, Augmented Reality, Graphic Design, Interactive Arts and The Odes to Mambokadzi which are folktale infused poems. Through the odes, I occupy multiple spaces of reality reimagined and otherwise to create a world as I see fit. After all, the world is ours to make and history is ours to take claim of in the present.

Through this experience, I was able to try something new, confidently express and embody chivanhu. Now, I find myself on the other side of revolutionary vibrations where I dare to be Mambokadzi -- to co-create a fulfilling present that may one day become a reference seed for future generations of Mambokadzi to come. To borrow from the words of Oliver Mtukudzi, “Dada nerudzi rwako chimiro chako nedzinza rako pembeza rurimi pwere dzigo yemura.” Be proud of your heritage, identity and culture, speak these truths so that younger generations can be guided by it.