Artists

Ndjiharine, Vitjitua

Presence in Absence, 2022
Courtesy: Vitjitua Ndjiharine, Foto: Peter Hartung (c) Vitjitua Ndjiharine

Presence in Absence is a mixed-media sculptural work that explores embodied presence embedded in the form of archival objects. How might we imagine different ways to engage with museums and material objects? What notions of personhood and individuality can we signify in relation to these objects?
In 2021 the artist spent time in Switzerland conducting research on material objects that evidently belonged to her family. These objects form part of the Schinz Collection in the Völkerkundemuseum Zürich since the late 1880s.(1) Collected by Swiss Botanist and “explorer” Hans Schinz on an expedition to German South West Africa in the mid to late 1800s, these objects include a wide range of cultural objects that, according to Schinz, are representative of the Herero people; namely these are pre-colonial cultural costumes, sacred spiritual objects, household tools and more.(2) The Schinz Collection contains 55 objects which, according to Schinz himself, were previously in the possession of Chief Ndjiharine of Omburo (who happens to be the artists’ great-great-great grandfather). These objects, along with others collected from different families across Namibia, form the basis of the Shinz Collection at the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich and is the oldest collection of the Völkerkundemuseum Zürich, bringing to light many questions, such as what it means to encounter family objects taken over one hundred years ago in the colonial archive. What new meanings can be derived from these objects?
In the case of personal items like traditional costumes and clothing accessories that were custom made for one individual and worn almost exclusively for the entirety of that person’s life, how might we imagine an embodied presence through these objects? Using inspiration from the costumes and clothing accessories worn by Herero women in pre-colonial times, made from leather, iron beads, ostrich eggs shells and dried seeds, Presence in Absence asks us to the imagine resonances of an embodied presence through these personal objects, exploring them sound objects that signify the person wearing them.
Further information on the provenance of these objects and the Ndjharine family can be found in the archive of the Basler Afrika Bibliographie (BAB) in Basel, Switzerland.(3)


(1) Beckmann et al. Man muss eben alles sammeln: Der Zürcher Botaniker und Forschungsreisende Hans Schinz und seine Ethnographische Sammlung Südwestafrika: Zürich: Verl. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2012.
(2) Dag Henrichsen translates a diary entry by Swiss Botanist Hans Schinz who wrote: “... I used my stay as much as possible, so that I could trade in 5 days 55 ethnographic objects and also a ‘whole bag’ of notes about Herero traditions and customs ...”, in: Dag Henrichsen (Eds): Hans Schinz; Bruchstücke. Forschungsreisen in Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Basel, 2012, p. 130–138.

Text: Vitjitua Ndjiharine; deutsche Übersetzung: Johanna Schindler

Presence in Absence is a mixed-media sculptural work that explores embodied presence embedded in the form of archival objects. How might we imagine different ways to engage with museums and material objects? What notions of personhood and individuality can we signify in relation to these objects?
In 2021 the artist spent time in Switzerland conducting research on material objects that evidently belonged to her family. These objects form part of the Schinz Collection in the Völkerkundemuseum Zürich since the late 1880s.(1) Collected by Swiss Botanist and “explorer” Hans Schinz on an expedition to German South West Africa in the mid to late 1800s, these objects include a wide range of cultural objects that, according to Schinz, are representative of the Herero people; namely these are pre-colonial cultural costumes, sacred spiritual objects, household tools and more.(2) The Schinz Collection contains 55 objects which, according to Schinz himself, were previously in the possession of Chief Ndjiharine of Omburo (who happens to be the artists’ great-great-great grandfather). These objects, along with others collected from different families across Namibia, form the basis of the Shinz Collection at the Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zurich and is the oldest collection of the Völkerkundemuseum Zürich, bringing to light many questions, such as what it means to encounter family objects taken over one hundred years ago in the colonial archive. What new meanings can be derived from these objects?
In the case of personal items like traditional costumes and clothing accessories that were custom made for one individual and worn almost exclusively for the entirety of that person’s life, how might we imagine an embodied presence through these objects? Using inspiration from the costumes and clothing accessories worn by Herero women in pre-colonial times, made from leather, iron beads, ostrich eggs shells and dried seeds, Presence in Absence asks us to the imagine resonances of an embodied presence through these personal objects, exploring them sound objects that signify the person wearing them.
Further information on the provenance of these objects and the Ndjharine family can be found in the archive of the Basler Afrika Bibliographie (BAB) in Basel, Switzerland.(3)


(1) Beckmann et al. Man muss eben alles sammeln: Der Zürcher Botaniker und Forschungsreisende Hans Schinz und seine Ethnographische Sammlung Südwestafrika: Zürich: Verl. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2012.
(2) Dag Henrichsen translates a diary entry by Swiss Botanist Hans Schinz who wrote: “... I used my stay as much as possible, so that I could trade in 5 days 55 ethnographic objects and also a ‘whole bag’ of notes about Herero traditions and customs ...”, in: Dag Henrichsen (Eds): Hans Schinz; Bruchstücke. Forschungsreisen in Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Basel, 2012, p. 130–138.

Text: Vitjitua Ndjiharine; deutsche Übersetzung: Johanna Schindler

Presence in Absence, 2022
Courtesy: Vitjitua Ndjiharine, Foto: Peter Hartung (c) Vitjitua Ndjiharine