The Art Institute of Chicago has recently acquired Mam’uNoPhumzile, a 2023 work by ceramic sculptor Zizipho Poswa, as part of the Architecture and Design Collection.

This piece was one of two glazed earthenware works featured in Terra Recognita: A Ceramic Story, a group show held at Mariane Ibrahim in Chicago, USA in July this year. It was a landmark exhibition in that it was the gallery’s first presentation dedicated solely to ceramics.

Both forms (the other titled Mam’uNoHotile) expand on the conceptual interests of Poswa’s first series of major hand-coiled ceramic sculptures, titled Umthwalo. This series honours the traditional practice of ‘umthwalo’ – the isiXhosa word for ‘load’ – whereby women transport heavy items on foot by carrying them on their heads for long distances, often in support of the livelihood of their families and communities.

The pieces were named after two significant women from Poswa’s home village of Holela in the Eastern Cape, a province of South Africa. The titles were formed by blending the word Mama (abbreviated to ‘Mam’, the traditional honorific when referring to an older Xhosa woman) and the respective name of each celebrated woman. The prefix ‘No’ before each name is an abbreviation of the Xhosa word ‘uNina’, denoting both femininity and motherhood.