The present essay includes works in which the artists wrestle with depicting the ancestral-spirits themselves. These works are even fewer in terms of the overall holdings, numbering only some dozen. Museums have largely failed to collect such subject matter for various reasons: Firstly the topic is dealt with only in artworks such as graphics, paintings and sculptures ,all western mediums introduced initially through Christian mission-schools. Secondly, most artists of the 20th century are or were themselves the product of Christian orthodox faith who while depicting such biblical scenes as Franz Hodi’s, The Creation c1962 [WCP861] would veer away from any works hinting of `paganism’.

Thirdly, there is no evidence of the Zulu being idolaters (in the sense of worshipping images of gods) because the Zulu never actually worshiped their ancestors.2 Certainly the Zulu revered and respected their ancestors and this is reflected in all traditionalist artefacts (wooden sticks, headrests, snuff-boxes, beer-drinking pots, costume and beadwork) where the association between the amaDlosi and the maker/owner elevates the item’s status. For any Zulu artist to take the liberty to actually depict the amaDlozi requires a certain psychological integration on his part, as he/she will invariably come from out of a Christian home but be returning to his traditional African roots. The artist Azaria Mbatha is such a person. Coming from a devout Lutheran Christian background, self-imposed exile in Sweden meant that he dealt with his alienation by recalling his Zulu culture and his strong ties to his father. In his work, Visit in the Village [1981] he depicts a returning Zulu husband and wife sitting before beehive shaped huts, villages kneel around them requesting ancestral blessings, "Will help come? The ancestors, invisible to the villagers, have gathered at the huts of their descendants. They forge the bond between the generations, and the future becomes less threatening." 3 These ancestors while invisible are yet illustrated in the linocut, depicted as sinuous figures looming over the huts in the village. The invisible nature of the ancestors is confirmed by Berglund who quotes a diviner, " (This diviner)...stated .. very definitely that amaDlozi are white, adding that because "they are white, they cannot be seen during the daytime."4

Traditionally the ancestral-spirits took on the form of snakes. An all-green grass snake known as inyandezulu was said to be the form that Zulu royalty took after death, while a bright green snake, spotted with black and known as umhlwazi, was the form commoners took. Old women were thought to came back in the form of lizards (umabibini). 5 Some Zulu, even those in the mid 19th century, regard the depiction of the ancestors as snakes as somehow absurd, Reverend Calloway’s informant had an interesting debate,"....we do not understand why Umvelinqangi said "the Idhlosi is a snake." For a man dies having no tail; and even we in that respect do not believe in a snake; for a man is asleep, and he dreams of a snake, he awakens immediately and starts; but if he dreams of a dead man, he speaks with him of affairs in a dream; but if he dreams of a snake, he does not talk to it; he starts. For my part, I say there are no Amadhlozi with tails. And we say Umvelinqangi made a mistake when he said, "People are snakes."6From Berglund’s study of Zulu cosmology it would appear that this informant was not party to the experiential knowledge of Zulu diviners. Snakes stand as symbols of the amaDlozi where they function as creative and healing forces (in this they are irrevocably linked with the high-god uMelingqangi ).

That snakes slough their skins and form new ones is taken as symbolic of the ability of the creative spirits to aid transformation or `rebirth’. A Zulu trainee diviner will in a lucid dream-like state`enter’ a pool of water where the creator-snake resides, there to be initiated into healing, `coming back’ out of the pool with his/her body smeared in white clay and carrying medicines. One time Rorke’s Drift art student Dan Rakgoathe, depicts many headed ( human, cow, ram, horse and bird) creator-snakes in a linocut, Spirit of creation 1975 [WCP1694]. Rakgoathe is recognized as an African mystic and this work is interesting because it is akin to that of Tabete, trainee to the well-known diviner Laduma Madela, indicating an association which must have inspired the artist.7

Perhaps the most readily accessible depiction of the amaDlozi is the realistic depiction of them as elderly persons. Artist Trevor Makhoba’s painting, Hamba, Mahambane 1995 [WCP 3030], is as in all the artist’s work, thought- provoking. He explained that the work concerned a classificatory grandfather (who lived in his childhood home at Melmoth, Zululand) who had once been a man of some account, a status eroded because alcoholism had dissipated him. The old man had been considered `a joke’ in the community and his wife had given him the nickname of "Mahambane" (Wanderer) as she would say, "there you wander off to yet another beer-drink!" This old man had died alone in the veldt and the painting depicts his arrival in the realm of the amaDlozi (the row of elder’s heads) upon death.

The ancestors had been watching his `sad’ life with dismay hence their facial expression at his untimely arrival. The dog was his faithful companion which alerted the homestead that the old man had died alone in the veldt, for if it had not, "the vultures (birds) would have finished him off and none of us would have known of his end." Makhoba said that the old man had been a `character’ in his time and that he (Makhoba) had deliberated before painting the work. This latter fact plus the artist’s remark,"...such an old man does not necessarily become an iDlozi, only those who lived proper and decent lives become ancestors....The old man may have (instead) become a troubling spirit.." leads to the supposition that Makhoba through his empathetic recording of the old man (in the painting) has striven to `redeem’ the old man’s spirit. 8 Further,by depicting the ancestors as Zulu elders, in accord with the philosophical understanding that it is the elders who are just this side of the ancestors, touches on the very nature of the ancestors as sentient `spirit’ rather than simply `the dead’.

Within the Campbell Collection are numerous small pottery figures and heads depicting Zulu traditionalist men and married women. These date from the late 19th century and were curios for sale to European tourists. Today Giblan Magubane from Wartburg still makes similar figures as did his mother and grandfather. The heads of Zulu elders are of interest for their stereotypical features indicting the dignity of age, in the earlier times a headring was added but this gave way to a later convention for age, that of balding head matched with beard, moustache and forehead-lines and an expression which is best described as ,"the thousand miles stare." 9 Upon showing Makhoba such figures he observed,"We today no longer see such figures, when we as Zulu see such figures, we take them for the ancestors." 10 Museum collections have vast numbers of these figures and heads, mostly by unknown artists, if one realizes that the ancestors are invariably depicted in a group, then one can appreciate the `irony’ of this phenomenon. 11 When asked why he had only depicted the heads of the amaDlozi, Makhoba commented, "...it is only the face that one sees in a dream." The artist hereby highlights yet another feature of the ancestral-spirits, that their communication takes the form of significant dreams. However, not all Zulu report seeing `only the head’ of their iDlozi in a dream and once again such detail relates to the experiential nature of traditionalist African religion.

In considering the relative `success’ of paintings and illustrations of diviners or izangoma one must be able to perceive the dignity ( isithunzi) of the person indicated (by posture, expression and regalia) in the work. It must be recalled that diviners are the mediums and servants of the amaDlozi and thus their dignity and presence reflects that of their `masters’. The dress and paraphernalia of the diviner helps enable the process of mediumship and serves to increase the diviner’s isithunzi through the brooding presence of the ancestral-spirits. Diviner MaKhomo Luthuli from Ndwedwe indicated that much of her regalia (wig, cloth-wraps and beadwork) was worn, "because it is the style of the (my) grandparents (ancestors)... (wearing) it is respecting..because they are with me...I must wear what they wore!" She connected the concept of isithunzi with respect, "yes you must have isithunzi (as a diviner) ...if I do not wear my regalia for even a week I become powerless...that is because I am failing to respect them (the amaDlozi)." She wears permanent beads in her own lengthened hair, over which for consultations she places a full diviners wig, "So as to be always reminded I am an isangoma..working for them (the ancestors)." Luthuli is possessed by her paternal grandfather’s iDlozi but she speaks of the ancestors as if they were a group, calling them respectfully the amaKhosi (kings), she also refers to the position of God , "He is the great one (uNkulunkulu) even when I ask my ancestors (regarding matters of importance) they (in turn) ask God." The isithunzi of a diviner and that of her ancestors is, "Combined ...even if going somewhere my behavior shows that of my amaDlozi." She is accorded respect because her isithunzi can be felt, because she is, "...as an isangoma not an ordinary person...." When asked about the beads in her hair and wig, she said that,"... white is symbolic of the grandparents (ancestors)..each time I consult I must wear this (full wig)..." she also explained that white was a healing colour as one wanted "lightness (in order to heal)." The red, blue and green beads decorating her hair indicated the various phases of her training as a diviner, she being an abaLozi (clair audient) or `whistling diviner’. She only wears gall-bladders when she goes to meetings with other izangoma. Her switch was of wildebeest (inkonkoni) tail and was used while working (ukusebenzi) with the ancestral-spirits, her whisking it about was to` call’ them. 13

It must be noted that not all diviner’s interpret their regalia in exactly the same way but there is a fundamental agreement, differences being due to emphasis and orientation on the part of the diviner. Artist Barbara Tyrrell by giving attention to detail of regalia and gesture can be considered successful in regard to actually reflecting some of this dignity and presence (isithunzi)so characteristic of a diviner. Her work Bhaca sangoma 1961 (WCP476)combines regalia with dramatic gesture. The southern Natal Bhaca people (related to the Zulu) have singularly spectacular diviners. Tyrrell has given us a record of such regional style differences in diviners' dress, as well as the styles of non Zulu diviners, such as those from the Ndebele, Xhosa and Sotho groups.

The relatively few works that depict diviners and their trade relates to a number of factors; Firstly diviners do not like their image taken in photographs (or paintings), this is especially so during training, when the brooding of the ancestral-spirits is heavy and, "people must not look too much." 14Secondly, a certain respect is required from those who come into contact with diviners as they are the servants of the ancestral-spirits. Lastly, as stated in the introduction, there has been a historically tense relationship between diviners (and thereby indigenous religion), colonial law and Christianity. These factors are to be found reflected in the attitudes of artists who have depicted diviners. Gerard Bhengu has attempted to capture a diviner in a state of altered consciousness in his sketch, iSangoma c1940 [WCP2837]. So invidious are vilification's of `witchdoctors’ that it is easy to accept such a work as merely showing the diviner in trance as she `works-with’ (ukusebenza) her iDlozi. It is only upon consideration that it becomes apparent that the diviner is depicted as being mad (ubuhlanya), a condition belied by her regalia which indicates the strengthening and cure of completed training. Christian missionaries regarded diviners as pagans possessed by demonic-spirits rather than as mediums to their ancestral-spirits.15 Bhengu, a Zulu artist, was born and reared on Centecow Roman Catholic Mission in southern Natal, he produced the work along with others to illustrate the missionary doctor Max Kholer’s work,The Izangoma Diviners (Govt. Printer: Ethnological Publications, 1941).

In contrast to Bhengu, non-Zulu artist Barbara Tyrrell shows both empathy and respect for her subjects,she records that she had to be introduced to the ancestral -spirits before in-depth studying and sketching of itwasa and isangoma in the Richmond district of KwaZulu-Natal, "I respect the beliefs of others with one proviso, that the core, the direction of the belief is toward good. Diviners serve the people for good." 16 Her work, iSangoma c1975 [WCP 3270] is the culmination of a period of intense association with traditional Zulu beliefs when she wrote her third book, African Heritage (Johannesburg: MacMillan 1983) along with her son Peter Jurgens. Jurgens in turn was sufficiently impressed by Zulu divination to further his studies into ParaPsychology (a branch of Psychology devoted to the study of extra-sensory perception) in the United States and France. In this work Tyrrell has departed from her usual mode of recording costume to attempt to indicate the atmosphere of mediumship, depicting the diviner in respectful posture, burning incense (imphepho) and using snuff ( from a beaded snuff -container) to enhance the brooding presence of the ancestors. As one trainee diviner who was shown this work, commented, " This (painting) shows umsebenzi, ...deep, deep talking with the amaDlozi."17

Finally, artist S’Tokoza Cele’s approach to his subject, Portrait of Amos Shembe 1996 [WCP 3016] shows elements found in depictions of both ancestors and diviners. Cele is a member of the Nazereth Baptist Church of Isaiah Shembe and his subject matter concentrates on this church’s leaders and activities.The prophetic line is continued through father to son and Isaiah, Galilee, Amos and the present leader M V Shembe all possess `The Spirit’. This manifests in their strong isithunzi and Cele says, "isithunzi is important to the portraits of the church leaders...the church clothes (vestments and regalia) give the isithunzi.." The artist insists that his paintings must hang in respectful places (museums being permissible) and it worries him that his work might hang on a shack wall. He further describes his need to depict the leaders in realistic terms as part of this respecting, like iSangoma Luthuli he stresses that, " the isithunzi will go down if (these paintings) are not respected."