Over the course of two decades, the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Adrienne Walker Hoard has taken inspiration from repeated sojourns in South Africa and interaction with the artistic women of the Ndzundza Ndebele. Their colorful beaded and painted works have evolved since their country’s democratization in 1994, influenced by exposure to western images and lifestyles.

Hoard, an artist and professor of fine art and black studies at UMKC, captures that transition in both art and Ndzundza Ndebele life in her exhibit New Democracy Art: A South African Saga of Women, Art, and Identity. Her images, with a selection of Ndzundza Ndebele artwork, reflect the strength and power of these “women warriors” and their multiple cultural perspectives.