Images(2)

Beer Vessel Cover (imbenge)

Artist Zulu artist

DateMid–late 20th century

MediumDouble weave telephone wire

DimensionsHeight: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)
Diameter: 7 15/16 in. (20.2 cm)

ClassificationsMetal

Credit LineGift of Julianna Simmons

Object number2017.20.21

On View

On view

Label TextEven something as innocuous as a beer vessel cover can have deep meanings. Beginning in the early twentieth century, a beer vessel cover would display colors of political or regional allegiance, like Zulu beadwork. This also reveals a parallel in gendered art forms: whereas beadwork and ceramic production were historically women’s art, weaving beer covers was a man’s art form.

The use of telephone-wire izimbenge (plural of imbenge) developed during the 1950s with the spread of the telephone networks in South Africa. Men working in migrant labor systems were said to garnish scrap wire from work or to steal wire outright in an act of resistance against the apartheid government. The use of letters in this example is particularly striking. Though the exact meaning of the letters N, K, and A cannot be substantiated, nka in Zulu is a verb meaning opening one’s mouth to speak, as in the phrase Angithanga nka, (I didn’t open my mouth to say a word). Nka would communicate volumes concerning choices of when to speak and who had the right to speak openly.
[A. Maples, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceDavid Roberts (dealer) South Africa; sold to William B. Simmons, New York, NY, February 23, 2011; given to daughter Julianna Simmons, New York, NY, n.d.; given to NCMA, 2017.
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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