Angeline Masuku is a ‘master weaver’ in het village. A ‘master weaver’ in the community will have acquired the highest skill in fiber preparation and dyeing, as well as in weaving and will exhibit the following consistent qualities:
Tightness of weave, intricacy and smooth transition of pattern and design, good design spacing, ability to shape large bowls, create unusual forms and most of all, pull at the same pressure ensuring an even basket.
While a community will have hundreds of weavers, only a handful will acquire this status and they will be almost wholly female.
Yet Angeline is a rural Zulu woman who was born and still lives near Hlabisa, a deep-rural town in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal’s traditional Zululand area. Her weaving techniques and the materials she uses are also strongly rooted in the ancient Zulu art of basket weaving, which she first learnt as a child.
Above all, Angeline is a remarkably strong, independent woman who has succeeded against great odds. She has also managed to defy the cultural expectations of what a single woman should be and how she should behave in deep-rural KwaZulu-Natal.
