Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni: Jo'burg Commuter, Photographer & Writer
“Humanity is my inspiration.”
Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni is a photographer and writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa and currently part of the 2020 Bakanal de Afrique Artist Fellowship Cohort. We’re looking forward to the work Tshepiso is creating specific to the festival theme on transportation. Tshepiso’s work usually focuses on loss, identity, nostalgia, and the fleeting sense of what it means to belong. We asked Tshepiso some questions about her people, artistic inspirations, and some other things. Tshepiso gave us some interesting responses.
Who are your people?
I am from Kwa-Bhaca in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. My people are a tribe of amaXhosa known as amaBhaca, they are the subjects of King Madzikane, and can be found mostly in the Mount Frere region of the old Transkei. I am uNdongeni, uHlaye, Umnkundla, uNonina uQhubulashe. I am a decendent of amaBhaca.
What keeps you from moving around the way you would like?
I am restricted by my standing in society. I have always lived in township and village spaces. Historically these spaces were placed far away from any spaces of commerce or development. They were modern day concentration camps created to keep black, working class people away from the means of production, it is this historical displacement that restricts me but that motivates me to overcome this restriction and continue forward.
What’s a memory that helped you learn about the place/space/body you were in in that moment?
I was in Cape Town, South Africa for the first time. My friends and I stood on the pavement/sidewalk and laughed and talked when a man violently pushed us out of the way, and told us this is why people like us don’t belong here. I learnt that day of the many ways in which my country is still divided across class and racial lines and it is for this reason that my work addresses all these critical issues. I learnt in that moment that Cape Town is the perfect symbol of how much more work South Africa needs to do to be mended properly.
Who or what inspires your art/creativity?
People inspire me. I spend a lot of time watching how people navigate the severity of their lives and it is these observations that help me make sense of the world and how it needs me to contribute to it. I love seeing how people relate to space and how these relations are informed by history and then making that a part of my visual narrative when I create. Humanity is my inspiration.
What local issue, national issue, or global issue has been occupying space in your heart, body, and/or head space?
I have always been preoccupied with the way class, gender and race interact. These issues are socially constructed but they have a significant impact on the ways in which people navigate the world. I have been black, queer and female all my life, grew up in a working class community while I went to school with middle class and upper middle class people. These different spaces helped me make sense of my world and also challenged me to think more deeply about the adverse effects that they have on people.
If you tell a friend “Mi soon come” or some version of that, where are you and what are you actually doing?
I commute to places and being subjected to public transport in South Africa means you won’t always be on time for appointments. Me soon come in my country can be interpreted as “ngiyeza nou nou” - which could be anything between right now or three hours from now. So me soon come would probably mean I am still waiting for a taxi to my destination.
Thank you Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni for taking time out of creating to share a little more about you with us!
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Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni is one of the core artists of Bakanal de Afrique, the premier global festival of Pan-African Urban culture, community and creatives; see their new work premiering Nov 6- Nov 30, 2020, exclusively on www.BakanalDeAfrique.com.