MATTERS OF THE ART: Nguni history is more than just ethnography — a curator of African art explains
At Yale University Art Gallery, Johannesburg-born curator James Green frames Nguni art as living history by bringing together 150 works, contemporary photography and a rebuilt isibaya into a first-of-its-kind exhibition.
The article discusses a groundbreaking exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery titled "Nguni: Migrant Nations of Southeast Africa," curated by Johannesburg-born James Green. The exhibition showcases 150 masterworks from the 19th and 20th centuries, including rare loans from South Africa and other institutions. Green's approach to framing Nguni art as living history is rooted in the region's complex history, which includes waves of movement led by the Nguni's founding ancestor, Mnguni, since around 1000 CE.
This history of migrations, reconfigurations, and consolidations has shaped the Nguni communities, particularly in the 19th century when large-scale upheaval occurred due to competition over resources, colonial incursion, and drought. Green's exhibition emphasizes the multiplicity of the Nguni, moving beyond a single political entity or culture to acknowledge the shared history of the region's communities.
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