Ndinomholo Ndilula is a multidisciplinary artist with a passion for storytelling and creative expression. With a background in Theatre Studies from the University of Pretoria, he has worked extensively as an actor and dramaturg. As a Fulbright Scholar, he explored digitization in the creative sector, and his work spans theatre, visual art, and new media interdisciplinary art. Ndilula currently lectures at the College of the Arts in Namibia while managing Oudano Momve Investment cc, a company dedicated to job creation in the creative sector. His contributions to the arts have earned him multiple accolades, including Best Actor at the Namibian Theatre and Film Awards. In May 2024 Ndilula gave the opening speech for Nicky Marais solo exhibition titled ‘Bearings’. Ndilula and Marais are long time friends and attended the same artists residency in Oranjemund in 2022 further cementing their mutual admiration for each others practices. Ndilula’s speech took the form of a creative reflection on ventifacts, small wind weathered stones that can be found in the desert near Oranjemund. A place that inspired many of the works on Marais’ exhibition.
A solitary ventifact stood tall, calm, still, sculpted by centuries of relentless whispering winds. Each grain of sand that whirled through the air contributed to its chiseled form, narrating tales of erosion on a scale so small that only peace and patience could truly appreciate its artistry. This ventifact was more than a mere rock, more than a boulder, more than a stubborn figure in desertscape; it was an ancient storyteller, a silent witness to the desert’s ever-changing face.
Efikulimwe, an extraordinary event unfolded. The ventifact began to move. Not through the slow and imperceptible creep of geological time, as we all had counted on, but with a sudden, forceful propulsion. As if powered by the sun, the ventifact hurtled itself through the vast expanses of the desert, defying the laws of nature, the laws of the land, the laws of propriety, the laws of ‘keik die eine.’
Proclaiming itself an artist, daring the sands of time to see it as an enigmatic figure cloaked in the bold colours its every consistent movement created, it was a ventifact in motion. Blending science, magic, math, and wonder, it danced with the wind, sculpting the air as the air had once sculpted it. Hurtling across the landscape of the Namibian experience, though our high highs and our low lows, from
rolling pleasures, and stark isolations, to rocky outcrops. Every twist and turn of the ventifact, a testament to the forces that shaped it: the relentless wind, the unyielding sand, and the timeless rhythm of erosion.
As the ventifact traversed the desert, it encountered other geological marvels. It whispered secrets to the stones, shared ancient knowledge with the dunes, and left behind a path of wonder and intrigue. Each collision and interaction, a moment of communion, a blending of herstories, a melding of destinies.
The ventifact in motion had traversed the Namib Desert as a symbol of the interconnectedness of all things. Emulating the serenity of stillness, this artist, this ventifact, had found its place in the world, all is well, a constant motion, all is well, a profound movement, from bearing to bearing to bearing to bearing
