Night watchman art sets Elliot on path to success
“Telephone wire weaving gives me great joy, it has enabled me to provide for and educate my family."
PHANSI goes Phezulu Gallery invites the public to celebrate the telephone wire weaving of master crafter Elliot Mkhize, which runs until 13 January 2018.
The Zulu people have long been associated with their skill and artistry in fashioning baskets from the indigenous plants and grasses of their homeland and for their intricate and culturally important beadwork. Zulu weavers have taken the designs and craftsmanship of the natural fibre (coil grass and Ilala palm leaf) baskets, incorporated the colours and patterns used in their beadwork, and have transformed them into brightly-coloured baskets made from telephone wire.
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It was while Elliot was working at the Natal Playhouse Theatre as a night watchman, that he was introduced to the “night watchman art”, the world of telephone wire weaving. After watching other night watchmen cover their knobkieries and sticks with coloured telephone wire he started adapting the technique by weaving traditional bowls. Elliot Mkhize is credited as being the innovator of wire basket weaving in the early 1970s.
“Telephone wire weaving gives me great joy, it has enabled me to provide for and educate my family. I was able to pay lobola for my wife and it has raised my standard of living. It has kept me and many others whom I have taught from poverty but most of all, it has kept me safe and off the streets,” said Elliot.
He wove his first basket in 1973 and took it to Jo Thorpe at the African Art Centre to sell. Jo continued to sell his work to tourists and encouraged him and promoted his work. By 1984, Elliot was a much sought after, successful weaver of telephone wire.
Elliot is represented in the much acclaimed publication, Wired, by David Arment and Marisa Fick-Jordaan and is very proud to say that most of the other wire weavers referred to in the book were taught to make baskets by him. Elliot was instrumental in passing on his skills to members of a poor community in Siyanda where many people lived in abject poverty.
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Many of these crafters still work and market their baskets through the African Art Centre and other retail outlets in Durban. Elliot is fondly known as their grandfather of craft. He is currently the most renowned and successful telephone wire weaver and the only master weaver with formal art school training. He has travelled abroad to America, Denmark, France, Namibia and Sweden to promote his work.
He participated in his first group exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery, titled Vulamehlo (open your eyes) in 1989 and continues to exhibit in South Africa and abroad. His work is sought out by national and international collectors.
Contact Sharon Crampton on 031 206 2889.
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