n the center of Dukes’ quilt, titled “Transitions: Toward Including Africans in South Africa’s
Promise,” sits South Africa, with cut-outs for Lesotho and Swaziland, on a background of
black and white African masks (to represent the many black South Africans who died during
the Apartheid era). The quilt features several of South Africa’s ethnic groups, including a
Xhosa woman, in needlepoint – Mandela was Xhosa – as well as an Ndebele woman, also in
Quilt Detail ~
“The Mind of Mandela” by Myrya Johnson
34 SHAKERONLINE.COM | WINTER 2015
needlepoint.
Dukes fringed the bottom of her quilt with colorful beads, in order to
represent the Zulu people and their traditional beadwork, and surrounded
the quilt’s edges with the colors of the flag of the African National Congress
(the ruling party of post-Apartheid South Africa), as well as colors favored
by the Ndebele in their traditional blankets.
“It’s a love note because Zulu people give love notes,” explains Dukes.
“It’s got a Zulu saying, ‘Let’s be peaceful.’” The Zulu are South Africa’s
largest ethnic group at more than 10 million. “It’s the whole idea of, when I
think of Mandela, I think of an incredibly courageous person who was able to
at least bring the African people in to have a voice versus having no say so at
all.”
“Transitions: Toward Including Africans
in South Africa’s Promise” by Jakki Dukes