Stamping Maize – Figure in Action

I can hear you asking, “Just what are mealies?” Well, it is just a South African name for maize (corn on the cob) and was first used by the Dutch around 1855. It is also the staple food in many societies around the world.

In this photograph, taken in the Mpumalanga Lowveld area of Hazyview, we see a Shangaan woman busy crushing maize for their staple porrige, phutu (mealie meal). If they want it even finer ground then it is ground further on a slightly hollow rock and with a large round stone. It is ground by hand.

This is an interesting one to draw and we will again be using pastel pencils for the finer details. The interesting part here is getting to portray the folds in the clothing correctly.