Traditional Zulu pottery tenons into deep cultural pathways. Blackened earthenware vessels function as potent connectors between ancestors and the living. Most are made for either brewing or serving a mild beer which is communally consumed at important occasions and reinforces social connections. Zulu pottery is distinctive from the incredibly varied world of traditional African ceramics. It is almost as if the fact of being at the very southernmost tip of the continent determined a unique style—a style immediately accessible to 21st century contemporary Western aesthetics. Even though Zulu potters work within a traditional artistic canon of process, form and surface treatment, there is, nevertheless, considerable avenue for individual expression. In fact, distinguishing one’s pottery is a primary vehicle for women to assert and increase prestige within Zulu society. Mncane Nzuza’s pots, which are remarkably accomplished both technically and aesthetically, are a testament to this dynamic.
