Ancestral Cow

Academically entitled in isixhosa, Impondo zenkomo emanzini, the rhetorics suggestion here can be translated loosely in English in a definitive form as, A cow sunk in the deep with its horns. This artwork is a metaphoric term that strives to define an ancestral initiation by the river. Mncela suggests that at the end of the initiation for one to be a seer, a cow is sunk with its horns deep in a river as a spiritual sacrifice to his ancestors. When the cow arises, it is considered as meat blessed by those underneath and so is eaten as both a celebration and appeasement.

 

  • Ancestral Cow
  • Mandisi Mncela
  • 2020
  • Mixed media on paper
  • 175 x 105 cm
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