Thembisile Nxumalo, Iphangela (Beer container), Ceramic, Museum purchase, The Dorothy Johnston Towne (Class of 1923) Fund 2020.21.1 (Left). Jabulile Nala, Ukhamba (Beer drinking vessel), 2019, Ceramic, Museum purchase, The Dorothy Johnston Towne (Class of 1923) Fund 2020.21.2 (Right)

The Davis recently purchased two ceramic vessels from contemporary South African artists Jabulile Nala and Thembisile Nxumalo. Formed for storing and serving utshwala (Zulu beer), both vessels were hand built from coils of clay that were joined and scraped to create thin walls. Made from millet, sorghum, and maize, the highly nutritious beer drunk from such containers has a low alcohol content and is associated with relationships with both other living members of a community and the ancestors. The ukhamba, or beer drinking vessel for communal use, was made by Jabulile Nala (b.1969), one of the most prominent ceramicists in South Africa. Nala’s family has a deep history of working with clay; her mother Nesta Nala (1945-2005) was among the first generation of Zulu ceramicists to gain international regard. Nala trained Nxumalo, whose iphangela, a container for beer, builds on formal traditions of Zulu pottery even as its sharp angles innovate within the genre. This purchase builds on the growing collection of South African art at the Davis, adding representation of ceramics, a significant medium in the region.