Talk
Taurai Valerie Mtake:
Indigenous Knowledge of the Bantu Symbol Writing
Madímì, a study of the Indigenous Knowledge of the Bantu Symbol Writing and how it may be revived in South African contemporary visual practice as well as passed on to the next generations. Capturing Indigenous Knowledge as a ‘living’ knowledge, that is capable of being preserved and transferred, while being produced and imagined in contemporary and future ways. How design can become a vehicle for the preservation and promotion of indigenous knowledge systems. Walking through Madímì‘s conceptual and practical connection to Indigenous Knowledge, and to unpack your creative process in terms of how fluidly it flow/ed between keeping and creating knowledge.
This talk is scheduled to take place online, , 2021, at in your current time zone (/UTC), as part of the main Typographics conference. Conference registration is available on a pay-what-you-can basis.
About Taurai Valerie Mtake
Taurai Valerie Mtake is a multi award winner who is particularly interested in the potential of design in contemporary Afrikan visual culture, where traditional cultural practices often become a staged authenticity in which the history of meaning in the objects and designs is often lost, sometimes even to the producers themselves. It is in this way that important indigenous systems have been transfigured in contemporary society merely as elements of decorative art, or a curio for mass consumption. She sees the potential of design to halt this waste and abandon our most valuable cultural resources. Owing to her undying passion for Afrika, in February 2018 she co-founded Nhaka Creative Agency, which aims to fill the gap in the market of producing edutainment material (edutainment and educational). Not only is this material innovative, but it’s also authentic and significant to Afrikans, their identity, and cultural heritage. Taurai also owns TaVaTake Designs which she started in 2011.
