iMbewu (The Seed), a landmark ten-year survey of ceramic artist Zizipho Poswa, will open at Southern Guild New York on 26 June 2026.
- 7 days ago
- 3 min read
“To encounter one of [Zizipho Poswa’s] sculptures is not merely an act of viewing art; it is an immersion in the transcendence of a simple ‘pinch pot’ into a monument to Xhosa cultural heritage and symbolism, to female solidarity, and to the enduring bonds between clay – practical and sacred, ancestral and living – and the female body it seeks to invoke.” –
Barbara Thompson, PhD, independent art historian, curator, and art consultant
Derived from the isiXhosa word for “seed” – a potent symbol of transformation, continuity, and becoming – the exhibition brings together works produced between 2016 and 2026 alongside three new sculptures that expand upon the cultural narratives, symbols, and material investigations that have shaped Poswa’s artistic language. Rather than framing this moment as a point of resolution, iMbewu (The Seed) understands the artist’s practice as something living and generative: each body of work containing within it the possibility of what is yet to come.
Rooted in the lived experiences, ceremonial practices, and matriarchal knowledge systems of Southern African women, Poswa’s sculptures are acts of reverence. They honour the tenderness, ingenuity, intersectional beauty, and daily rituals of cultural preservation carried by women across generations. Born in Mthatha in South Africa’s Eastern Cape and originally trained in textile design, Poswa approaches clay with an instinctive sensitivity to rhythm, pattern, and texture. Retaining the tactility of the hand, each form is hand-coiled and realised through an embodied process that mirrors the themes of endurance and care at the heart of her work.
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A recurring conceptual thread throughout her practice is Umthwalo – the isiXhosa word for “load” and the custom where women carry heavy items atop their heads. Ongoing since 2020, the series has become an extended meditation on the visible and invisible responsibilities borne by women. Drawing on scenes witnessed throughout her upbringing, Poswa elevates acts of carrying into architectural totems that honour what she describes as the “life-sustaining roles that African women play.”
Across bodies of work inspired by ‘lobola’ negotiations, Pan-African hairstyling traditions, ceremonial objects and protective amulets, and maternal rituals, Poswa repeatedly returns to a rich repertoire of symbolic motifs – cow horns, braided coiffures, stacked vessels, gathered loads, hair combs, ‘ukhamba’ beer pots, and bronze crests – through which the intimate rituals of daily life are transformed into monuments of dignity, resilience, and power.
Clay is not simply treated as material, but as archive.
Collectively, iMbewu (The Seed) charts the continued evolution of Poswa’s hand while reflecting the generative logic that underpins her practice. Across a decade of committed making, she continues to honour the women of her community as architects and custodians of collective memory and communal life.
This marks the artist’s sixth solo with Southern Guild and her first presentation in the gallery’s new Tribeca space.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a monograph published by Southern Guild, tracing the evolution of Poswa’s practice over the past decade.
EXHIBITION PROGRAM:
A public programme will accompany the exhibition, including the launch of the artist’s monograph, Zizipho Poswa: iMbewu (The Seed), and a panel discussion exploring key themes within the artist’s practice. Full details will be announced in the coming weeks.
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