Angeline Masuku

In her far away home in the little village of Empembeni, beyond Hlabisa in Zululand, Angeline Masuku sits alongside the bed of her cerebral-palsied son and weaves baskets of magic.

Her materials are the standard grass and ilala palm, dyed with indigenous plants to give them vibrant colour. Purple from the nearby clumps of impekambedu (indigoferra arrecta), tan from the fruit of the mqandani tree, and pitch black from the bark of the mdoni boiled with the leaves of the mthombothi. She learnt to weave from her mother and started at the age of four, as did her three sisters. But Angeline’s clever fingers have helped her to outstrip her peers; in 2007 she won the FNB Vita Award, which catapulted her to world notice. In December 2008, she held her first overseas exhibition in New York, to great acclaim.

She gets her inspiration from the ordinary world around her – the chickens roosting in the trees, the cattle, goats, dogs and people – and translates them into the charming stylised figures that make her work so original. A down to earth and practical woman, Angeline takes pleasure in her community and her family.