“Imnyama ibenomgca omhlophe.”
In this textured episode, we are guided by uTat’ Mangaliso Jafta—community elder, social entrepreneur, and former MK operative—who walks with us through the streets of Willowvale, kuGatyana. As co-host and conversational anchor, uTat’ Jafta opens a thread that is both personal and political, inviting us to consider how dress codes such as iqhiya carry historical, social, and spiritual meaning across generations.
Our inquiry begins with a simple provocation: ukhule wena kutwalwa iqhiya ezinjani? ooMama bakho, nikhule kunxitywa iqhiya ezinjani? Zibanjani? This unfolding gesture—posed to local residents—guides us into an intimate mapping of how aesthetic choices operate as embodied knowledge. Through walking, asking, watching, and listening, we encounter everyday dressers whose iqhiya styles speak to inherited practice, everyday beauty, and the quiet discipline of presence.
Rather than treating iqhiya as a static cultural object, this episode positions it as a living fold—remade, resisted, reinterpreted in time. It reveals how local fashion languages are formed not only through style but through intergenerational memory, custom, and the unspoken codes of dignity and belonging. Here, fashion is not performance—it is continuity. Iqhiya is not just adornment—it is archive, instruction, and interface.
For those who know: this episode was first titled iKetshemiya—a word that remains folded into the hem of this offering, not lost, but carried.
What appears ordinary is layered with codes. What appears fixed, is in motion.
CLOSING ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Narrating Voices
Mr Mangaliso Jafta
Azola Krweqe
Ms Nobuhle James
Mrs Nokhaya Jilingisa
Mama Phakani
Zizo Ntukushe
Visual & Video Contributors
Azola Krweqe
Sibabalwe Makeleni
Community Contributors
The James Family – ooXaba
Mrs Kutazwa James
Mrs Nokugcina James (special thanks for the recording of umsebenzi kaMnu. Luphumlo James)
Mrs Ludidi
Ms Phumla James
Ms Nobuhle James
Willowvale Makers Co-op
Kholiswa Magidi
Theko Theo Yinindwa
Philiswa Matutu
Nwabisa Mahlaleshushu
Miranda Siwlabeni
Youth Participants
Zintle Bonakele
Vuyokazi Mncono
Lethu Jilingisi
Nokubonga Hawu
Lisakhanya Poni
Yolande Tskane
Liyabona Ntshobodwana
Buyiswa Beauty Nduwe
Community yakuGatyana
Cebisa Magoqoza
Mzukisi Nketshu
Thando Madwantsi
Thobile Tsutsu
Sikelela Thobigunya
Neliswa Bambintala
Miranda Sihlangu
And the broader community at large
Special thanks to:
Azola Krweqe
Lukhanyo Muluse
Locations Referenced
Willowvale Arts Center, kuGatyane
James Family Home – Elukhanyisweni, eQumbu, eMdeni
Mr & Mrs James’ Residence – Highbury, Umtata
James Residence – Walmer Road Lodge, Beacon Bay, East London
Ngumla Family Home – eGcibala, Tsomo
Mpintsha Family Home – Nkanga, Willowvale
Buffalo City Municipality
Production Team
Executive Producer: Bongani Tau
Curator & Editor: Siviwe James
Content Advisor: Sihle Sogaula
Graphic Design: 2DOTS Space Agency
Video & Sound Editing: Siviwe James
Text: Siviwe James
Xhosa Language Advisor: Ms Nobuhle James
Digital Archiving Support
Art Meets App
Institutional Support
Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Arts and Culture
UN/FOLDING_RE/FOLDING_FOLDED: Imiphindo kwaXhosa © 2023 Created and produced by Siviwe James (James-Laurie) With support from the African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) and Creative Nestlings Foundation, under the New Narratives Programme (2023).
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International