Shaka's Shrine

Title: Shaka's Shrine
Medium: Six colour lithograph
Paper size: 76.5 x 57 cm
Image size: 69 x 50.5 cm
Edition size: 30

In Shaka’s Shrine Mabaso remembers the great Zulu leader but there is also a bleakness to the print. The black lines in front of the sun and soft radiating lines surrounding the sun contribute an air of melancholy. This is added to with the image of a cattle skull. When Shaka's mother, Nandi, died the Zulu leader is said to have lost his mind. In his grief, Shaka had hundreds of Zulus killed, and  outlawed the planting of crops and the use of milk for a year. All women found pregnant were murdered along with their husbands. He sent his army on an extensive military operation, and when they returned exhausted he immediately ordered them out again. It was the last straw for the lesser Zulu chiefs, on September 22, 1828, his half-brothers murdered Shaka. Dingane, one of the brothers, then became king of the Zulus.