uSana loMkhwetha( The Newborn Initiate)
uSana loMkhwetha( the Newborn Initiate)
This is a drawing that continues a personal exploration of the concept of culture and tradition and it’s relevance and affects on a contemporary group of people, namely myself.
In this drawing I playfully revisit a state of mind which I was in during my time undergoing l the isiXhosa tradition of initiation into manhood. My state of mind was that of confusion and momentary disillusion which brought about and accentuated my frequent idealistic fantasies of myself and the world around me, influenced by modern Western culture. To show this I depict the Initiate as a “mutant”, in comic book terms, or an anthropomorphic being, newly born and fed with secrets and realities of the tradition as he undergoes the transition from boyhood into manhood.
