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Mnandi Madzeni is a site-specific sculptural work commissioned by a private client for their
home in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. The work is composed of spray-painted metal sheets
assembled into the form of the Isibheqe Sonhlamvu syllabary, developed from Bab’ Credo
Mutwa’s izimpawu zesintu. Rooted in isiZulu petroglyphs as a framework for indigeneity—
opera1ng simultaneously as a methodology for contemporary artmaking, an epistemic lens,
and a specula1ve device—the work engages the forma1on of meaning and the poli1cs that
shape it as nego1ated, shared, malleable, and evolving.
The deliberate absence of fixed literary inscrip1on suspends the work from singular legibility,
opening a space for specula1on and enabling a pluralisa1on of meaning through imagina1ve
engagement. Rather than func1oning as a carrier of predetermined content, the sculpture
relies on composi1onal poe1cs and aesthe1c decision-making as its primary generators of
significance.
This posi1oning situates Mnandi Madzeni within tradi1ons of abstrac1on in contemporary
art, where meaning is not stabilised by representa1on but emerges through encounter. The
viewer is therefore implicated as a co-producer of meaning, bringing personal associa1ons,
memories, and sensorial responses into dialogue with the work.
The 1tle Mnandi Madzeni arose from an informal exchange between the ar1st and the client
during the installa1on process, in response to the pleasurable affect of the colour pale^e.
Commonly used to mean “I’m good,” and more directly translatable as “nice sweets” or “I am
as nice as sweets,” the phrase forms part of the ever-evolving iscamtho dialect, which
synthesises !Ui, Ta, Kintu, English, Afrikaans, and other linguis1c influences spoken by many
Johannesburg residents. This naming process mirrors the work’s conceptual concerns:
meaning is produced through social interac1on and remains con1ngent, fluid, and situa1onal.
In this sense, Mnandi Madzeni proposes meaning not as a fixed property of objects, but as a
deliberate and rela1onal act—one shaped by those who encounter, ar1culate, and interpret.