Where Are The Cows? (Ziphi Iinkomo)
by
Beverley Samler
We continue to salute and pay homage to the women in arts who have used their skills to be actively involved in the fight for basic human rights.
Beverly Samler was born in Zambia and lived most of her life in Zimbabwe. In 1980 she came down to South Africa and settled in the Eastern Cape. After a long break she found herself painting again and ended up at the Buffalo City Public FET College's printmaking studio where she studied for four years under Rose Warren.
Beverly's passion for printmaking is balanced with other media, such as photography and painting. With two solo exhibitions held in the Eastern Cape, she has also exhibited in numerous group showings locally and in Zimbabwe. In 2003, Beverly participated in the third international Printmaking Conference in Cape Town, where she was involved in the production of a community based project and exhibition, Salted Lines. Other printmaking conferences and exhibitions Beverly attended include the Germany and Poland conference held in 2005 where she initiated and co-facilitated an exhibition Proud Survivors. And she also exhibited at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.
Beverly is a board member for the Ann Bryant Art Gallery. She is motivated to use art to improve and educate her community.
Poem:
Looking up
Finuala Dowling
The moment before you died
You looked up,
The way all children look up: hopefully.
You were expecting us to come
But we didn’t come.
You see --
The economy has been growing at 3.2% per year
Many of our shopping malls have parking for over 1000 cars
Things have been looking up
We’ve had a lot of new stuff to look after
Of course, when we read how you’d died,
You had three hundred thousand mothers;
You had four hundred thousand fathers.
Yet it’s true that the moment before you died,
You looked up, and no one came.
Impucuko
IsiXhosa translation: Tessa Dowling and Nosipho Tshabane
Umzuzwana phambi kokuba usweleke
Wajonga phezulu
Ngendlela bonke abantwana abajonga ngayo: ngethemba.
Ubulindele okokuba sifike
Kodwa zange sifike.
Uyabona ke --
Uqoqosho lunyuke kakuhle ngonyaka
iivenkile zethu ezinkulu zineendawo zokupaka iimoto ezingaphezu kwewaka
Izinto ziye zaphucuka
Besinezinto ezininzi ezintsha esinokujonga kuzo
Kaloku, sakuba sifunde indlela obusweleke ngayo
Ubunentlaninge yoomama;
Ubunentlaninge yootata.
Nangona, uthe ngomzuzwana phambi kokuba usweleke
Wajonga phezulu,
Kodwa akwabikho
namnye ufikayo
A Brief Biography of Finuala Dowling
Finuala Dowling is a former Unisa lecturer now working as a freelance writer. She has published two volumes of poetry, I Flying (awarded the Ingrid Jonker Prize) and Doo-Wop Girls of the Universe. She is also the author of a novel, What Poets Need, several short stories published in local and international anthologies, and an award-winning comedy, Bungee Writing Finals. She lives with her extended family in Kalk Bay, Cape Town.