Publisher: Bookstorm

Making Marigold: Beaders of Bulawayo is a portrait of a women’s beading co-operative specialising in loomed beadwork, based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Over 200 photographs reveal the sumptuous glamour of the Marigold beadwork and necklaces. Short, stand-alone narrative vignettes offer background insights into the making and development of the Marigold co-operative. How did these women, whose skilled practice and creative impulses evident in every necklace, perfect this practice? And what has sustained their efforts across the decades?

About Joni Brenner

Joni Brenner is an artist who revisits the same subject – whether live model or skull – over and again, a practice that informs her understanding of learning through doing, looking closely and recognising shifts. Her belief in the value of repetition underpins her fascination, and her collaboration, with the Marigold beading co-operative. She is a Principal Tutor in History of Art at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

About Elizabeth Burroughs

Elizabeth Burroughs is a researcher and writer whose interests include the role of languages in culture and identity, the nature of consciousness, and the processes of making. She has worked primarily in the field of education, lecturing in English Literature and Linguistics, and as senior manager for Umalusi, the quality council for schools and college education in South Africa. She now works as a freelance consultant and writer.

About Liz Whitter