Kubongwa okukhulu nokuncane

WonderBuhle

02.11.22 - 19.01.23

By Fikile Mali

“You see those men in the painting? They’re a representation of my uncle and the backstory is simple. My uncle recently celebrated his birthday for the first time. He bought a cake and did the whole thing. The ritual of birthday celebrations emakhaya is not a popular one so to see umntu omdala do it meant something. When I asked him why he did it, all he said was that he was grateful for the opportunity. Most of his peers are gone, so for him to see life this long was a moment worth gathering people for. It was a moment worth remembering.” — Wonderbuhle, January 2023.

Life has its complications and setbacks. Dreams are delayed, grief abounds and betrayal is inevitable. Our villain and victim arcs develop. Then sometimes we win: all our requests are met with a yes, resolve comes easy, we recover, document it and share it with our worlds. But things happen between the grand narratives. In all our sweeping, absorbing, breathtaking, spirit breaking encounters, we pursue love. We survive. We multiply. Oh, and we love. We build homes, we grow and we dream. Puncturing through the chaos, we beam, extending ourselves through learning, making, cultivating, teaching and laughing. Us, the ones who were not meant to, don’t just survive, we dance while we do it.

A study of defiant gratitude, Wonderbuhle’s Kubongwa okukhulu nokuncane holds a light up to the concept of thanksgiving, inviting his audience to revel in its radical charge.