Calvin Manika
GWAYI area along Bulawayo – Victoria Falls road still glitters with pottery products on display along the highway.
The handwork of pottery reminds the passer-by of Ladikwali, a craftswoman of Nigeria, born in 1925 and died in 1984. She was one of the first potters to achieve international recognition for her notable handicraft. The vases are moulded in different shapes ostensibly for different purposes. No one can deny the art of pottery. The vases are a handicraft work by locals. However, pottery has been established over the years as a form of business whose main customers are tourists, local and foreigners. The products are beautiful and resemble the beauty of Africa. However, the outbreak of
Covid 19 pandemic has caused disastrous effects to the locals involved in the trade of earthenware. As the government relaxed lockdown measures in some sectors, pottery industry also opened as less contact is involved in the trade. But the greatest challenge is lack of market for products due to the lockdown which had made many people to cancel trips and stay home. With the regulation measures allowing restaurants and some tourists’ resorts to open for locals, still many tourists are not yet confident to travel around.
Instead of entering the nearby Hwange national park and wildlife conservancies poaching game, the Gwayi local people are determined to improve their lives, sustain families and promote African culture. In a regulated society such industries might contribute immensely to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and bring the much needed foreign currency. This is an enterprise that continues to produce in extremely adverse times but manages to prevail and create pots of a unique character that are highly regarded. Actual processes are extremely primitive but somehow give the pots great character. The growth in value of both old pieces and contemporary vessels is a reality and it is this precise fact that will keep pottery alive in Africa.
Sculpted vessels expressing surface design were vehicles for addressing the metaphysical needs of the community. They could be fashioned with representational spirit forms and manipulations, or incised with designs, scribbles and scouring. These pots were often kept in their own confined, custom built spaces where they were tended and consulted for ritualistic purposes. Some were deliberately broken during ritual ceremonies, while some have endured and been maintained for many generations. Currently, some traditions have been abandoned and the practice of making ritualistic vessels no longer exists in many communities.
Themba Mathe, a member of Gwayi river pottery said business was still low.
“Currently there is no business as people are not moving around as before. We are here as a custom and anticipating that maybe officials passing by or even some individuals may buy few so that we can feed our families,” Mathe said.
Pottery traces the very thread of existence of Africa’s inhabitants. Pots are like data, they provide insight into the cultural interchanges of African societies; the life they led the, paths they trod, the needs they had and the skills they possessed. Shards of pottery found by archaeologists in ancient sites tell us that pots were being made as early as 7000 BC. Pots and vessels are found in presidential mansions, palaces, castles, art galleries, governments’ complexes and homes in general.
A noble reverence can be felt when looking at a beautifully formed vessel that has fulfilled its function perfectly for thousands of years. Simultaneously art and craft, African pots represent both conceptual ideas and practical utility. At once durable yet fragile, they have endured for centuries and through them, people can start to imagine the artists who shaped their form with their bare hands and crafted their features with crude tools. Mathe lamented: “The government should extend a hand to our industry and fit our operations in the framework of the tourism sector. Most of the people in this area survive with this art and Gwayi is known worldwide for its art of Gwayi”
