ZANA MASOMBUKA | Time + Nodugwana: An Ode to My Grandmother

Zana Masombuka is a South African artist, photographer and performer born in 1995 who created the platform "Ndebele Superhero" inspired by the anthropological heritage of the rural indigenous population of the village where she grew up.

The photographic series made between 2019 and 2020, "Time" and "Ode to My Grandmother," exhibited for the first time in Italy by Cellar Contemporary, constitute an image-based narrative punctuated by the phases of the artist's life and the people who have been crucially important in her journey: the Ndebele community and her maternal grandmother.

From the collective embrace of the project dedicated to the passage of time, where young and old generations are invited to overcome their peculiar rigidities and dialogue to exchange energy and knowledge, the artist implements a translation of the same theme by focusing on an intimate and individual family diary inspired by the figure of her ancestor.

The photographs of Zana Masombuka, who undergoes a long process of transformation and self-training through makeup, costume and performative posing, compose a visual narrative of great aesthetic and formal balance, with a clear and empathetic message and cross-cutting power.