MTHOMBONDINI! mTHOMBONDINI! mTHOMBONDINI! Moon Gather As they GATHER Moon beings Moon WeaveR AS THEY WEAVE Moon witness AS THEY WITNESS Sacred beings pHEFUMLAAAA! pHEFUMLELA MTHOMBONDINI

This offering represents the first gathering of women, a sacred narrative moment of preparation for ceremony and/or ritual. It is a space where labour, body, materiality and oral storytelling intertwine seamlessly with cosmology, shaping the threshold of transformation. It embodies metaphors, symbols, and languages that function as ancient forms and portals of consciousness through which women engage indigenous practices. These sensory traces become materiality, a living repository of connection and becoming. Titled, Umnikelo WokuQamatala/ The beginning of Return fluidly weaves the intricate interstices between personal and collective, the seen and unseen threads/portals of how ritual, body and memory shape both experience and environment. This body of work is a contemplative meditation on the ways in which women continuously engage, sustain and transform communities through care, presence and ritual.