Zizi – the Shona word for owl – is a wire-art, solar-powered night light for children. In the dark, its eyes light up and a brighter light on its chest provides a reading lamp. Open up Zizi’s wings and charge it on a window sill. Zizi is based on the small Scops owl, found across Southern Africa. It really is this small, about as tall as a soft-drink can. Zizi introduces children to the natural world through a friendly guardian in the dark. Made from wire art – a creative means of subsistence for artisans in Southern Africa – Zizi delights and enchants, reflecting human resilience and ingenuity in the face of stress and economic hardship. The installation is produced by Serai Dowling.

Ralph Borland is an award-winning artist, curator, and researcher at the University of Cape Town, exploring the impact of emerging technologies on Africa. His creations are exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art and public spaces in Cape Town.

With a BFA, a Master of Interactive Electronics and a PhD in Engineering, Borland merges interests through African Robots, collaborating with Southern African street wire artists.

Over nearly a decade, African Robots has created robot birds, insects, and other creatures, travelling from South Africa to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Brazil, and South Korea, and exhibiting at the Toronto Film Festival and the Dakar Biennale, combining art, design, activism, technology democratisation, and social enterprise.

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Capetonian Serai Dowling is a writer and expert generalist exploring placemaking and inclusion. With a publishing background, she has spent 11 years working on social justice in Sub-Saharan Africa, amplifying marginalised and systemically suppressed voices.

Her writing considers nature as a sanctuary against modern social ills, seeking to create or amplify beauty and evoke delight and awe at the majesty of our natural world.

Dowling's book ‘Tidal Pools of the Western Cape’ was widely published in international journals in 2023. She produced the African Robots installation ‘Zizi’, exploring wire art and resilience.