Allina Ndebele

Allina Ndebele (née Khumalo) (born 10 December 1939) is a South African artist and weaver known for her tapestries. She was born in Swart Mfolozi in KwaZulu Natal Province and after training to be a nurse se she secured a job as a translator for Peder and Ulla Gowenius who were in the process of setting up what was to be Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre. She quickly picked up weaving and studied in Sweden to become a teacher-weaver. She later went on to establish her own weaving studio, Khumalo's Kraal and obtained the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver in 2005. She still lives at Khumalo's Kraal today. Quotes "I followed my intuition and started to learn all kinds of art techniques to assist the patients by art therapy. Weaving I liked best. I felt very little satisfaction when following fixed patterns or working out of the themes that teachers provided me with. I could feel that was not my thing." "When I work I see the picture and my hand will go over the wool and I know where I will have the image. Sometimes I change it again and take out all the wool, start over till I am happy with it. It is a slow process, for painters it must be easier." Burmann, Pauline (2000). "The Thread of the Story: Two South African Women Artists Talk about Their Work". Research in African Literatures. 31 (4): 155–165. ISSN 0034-5210. JSTOR 3821084. "These animals are markers of economic wellbeing and serve as spiritual links with the ancestors." Hobbs, Philippa; Leibhammer, Nessa (1 January 2011). "Water and space: Unraveling meaning in the weavings of Allina Ndebele". De Arte. 46 (83): 22. doi:10.1080/00043389.2011.11877137. ISSN 0004-3389. S2CID 194015211.. Retrieved 24 March 2025. Quotes About Her "In her tapestries she gets in touch with her memories of the numerous Zulu folktales that spoke, through granny’s voice, of times immemorial. She uses no premeditated composition or logical storyline. Scenes get mixed up or flow into one overall vision that triggers the spirit of fantasy." Hobbs, Philippa; Leibhammer, Nessa (1 January 2011). "Water and space: Unraveling meaning in the weavings of Allina Ndebele". De Arte. 46 (83): 22. doi:10.1080/00043389.2011.11877137. ISSN 0004-3389. S2CID 194015211.. Retrieved 24 March 2025. External Links Category:Artists from South Africa Category:Women from South Africa Category:Women artists Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:Women born in the 1930s