“I WOULD continue to paint on the house when they left for a break. When they came back, they would say: what have you done child? Never do that again.
After that I started drawing on the back of the house and slowly my drawings got better and better until they finally asked me to come back to the front of the house.
Then I knew I was good at painting,” reminisced octogenarian South African national treasure and Ndebele artist, Esther Mahlangu about a scenario which involved her 10-year-old self, grandmother and mother – whilst growing up in Middelburg, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.
The vivid memory forms part of her story regarding how she started dabbling in Ndebele mural painting at such a very tender age – fortuitously declaring herself the heiress apparent to the adult matriarchs’ custodianship of their Ndebele culture. And this anecdote forms part of fascinating excerpts contained in an aptly colourful tome on the elderly practitioner titled, To Paint Is In My Heart – coincidentally released just as the artist’s overdue retrospective exhibition titled: “Then I Knew I Was Good At Painting” Esther Mahlangu, A Retrospective, opened at the University of the Witwatersrand’s WITS Art Museum (WAM) on November 19.
Compiled by the trio of Nigerian art curator Azu Nwagbogu, Swiss art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist and German author Thomas Girst, the tome – featuring a preface by Nontobeko Ntombela (a lecturer at Wits School of Arts and the curator of Mahlangu’s retrospective exhibition), a poem tribute by sculptor Pitika Ntuli and young South African fashion designer Thebe Magugu – casts the spotlight on a protagonist regarded as one of the great innovators of Pan-African Contemporary Art.
It is formatted in the manner of conversation-cum-interview Nwagbogu, Obrist and Girst conducted with the matriarch at her home, as well as the generous splashing of some 90 plus images of her artworks across the pages – with the back cover jacket of the tome emblazoned with glowing comments about Mahlangu’s art from the ilk of, et al., American crooner John Legend and South African comedian Trevor Noah.
Legend – who first met Mahlangu in 2016 while working together on the Global Fund campaign to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and also attended the artist’s recent exhibition in Atlanta – gushes about her oeuvre:” A symphony of colors and traditions, weaving together a narrative that transcends borders and generations . . . a treasure trove . . . each brushstroke is a testament to her unparalleled talent and the power of art to unite us all.” Additionally, the read is interspersed with images of the embodiment of a tableau vivant (living picture) per se – all resplendent in kaleidoscopic apparel and embroidery of her tribe, depicted in varying forms whilst either applying paint upon a canvas detail, being interviewed by the authors or striking a pose for a portrait.
As testament of Mahlangu’s craft’s influence, an essay by in vogue fashionista, Thebe Magugu narrates his fascination for the Ndebele whose garments represent traditional attire (from the ‘Umbhalo’, the graphic mid-weight blanket, to the ‘Linrholwani’, the large hoops and cuffs made of beaded strands of twisted grass that encircle the neck) completely untouched by the influence of colonization – further mentioning that his Ndebele Dress creation from his Heritage Dress Capsule (a series of 9 dresses celebrating 9 South African cultures) emanated from references both worn and explored by Dr Esther Mahlangu. (An image of a model wearing the couturier’s Ndebele Dress appears alongside his reflection.)
Magugu also mentioned fellow designer John Galliano’s presentation of a stacked choker which directly referenced the ‘Idzila’ (the Ndebele choker) at his Dior Spring/Summer 1998 collection.
In an opening stanza from a poem titled Kgari Esther Mahlangu by fellow octogenarian and artist, Professor Pitika Ntuli, he recites: Her brush dances with colours capturing her Ndebele history; where culture and tradition thrive; she paints with passion to keep her heritage alive; hand steady as a measuring rod; throughout apartheid times her murals a flag of hope; bold strokes and intricate patterns; geometric images smiling in bright colours . . .
Mahlangu’s creative process and approach involves hand-painting (with chicken feathers substituting brushes) or paint brushing by which she applies natural pigments (such as rich colours found by the river and mixed with cow dung) and acrylic paints to produce geometric motifs (mostly of razorblade patterns) she display onto surfaces such as homes, walls, pottery, textiles, etc., to produce aesthetically appealing colourful patterns laden with symbolism, spiritual beliefs and cultural identity – all accomplished sans the use of a conventional studio or the aid of instruments such as rulers.
The featured artwork, mostly a variation of the razorblade patterns, are a phantasmagoria cornucopia of attestation to the creator’s vision that: ‘The most important thing is that the artwork must catch your eye. I always want to make something that looks beautiful.’
In her conversation with the authors, she let them in on varying topics ranging from the process involved in the production of her craft, the interpretation of her art (described as a blend of abstract and figurative elements with patterns linked to anything from mathematics to cosmology), being a representative of her culture within the global framework – to responding to their curiosities regarding the importance of time to her, her definition of art, her favourite city around the world, et cetera.
Observed Obrist of the 89-year-old: “Esther Mahlangu is one of the most important artists of our time who continues to inspire artists all over the world.”
Located at the tome’s tail end is Mahlangu’s biography which unfolds a resume which, inter alia, limns a creator par excellence whose genesis to international fame commenced with her participation in the group show ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ at Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1989 – thereafter progressing to becoming the first woman artist and African to paint a BMW Art Car (a feat which resulted in her joining the exclusive company of artists such as, Jenny Holzer, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, David Hockney, et al. – who over the years had been commissioned by the German automobile manufacturer to create a canvas on an automobile to, from Thomas Girst’s perspective, “show that BMW is a player in the arts”) in 1991.
Regarding the BMW Art Car – a 525i sedan which forms part of her current exhibition at WAM –she’s quoted thus: “I painted the car like a wall. And for the Ndebele people, if you begin to paint a wall, it means . . . that something big is going to happen.” Considering the leaps and bounds which her work proceeded on to realize since back then at the beginning of the 90s – her omen was on point!
‘Long after I am not here anymore, people will still go and see the paintings and they will remember there was an artist called Esther Mahlangu,’ observed the mainstay who between 1980 and 1991 lived and toiled away teaching visitors about Ndebele life and practices at the open-air Botshabelo Historical Village in Mpumalanga Province.
Hans Ulrich Obrist is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of The Interview Project, an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He was the curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Azu Nwagbogu is a Nigerian art curator, writer and art collector. He is the founder and Director of the African Artists’ Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting African art and artists – and the Lagos Photo Festival and creator of Art Base Africa, an emerging virtual space dedicated to exploring and understanding contemporary African art and diaspora.
Nwagbogu was formerly elected as the director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art in South Africa.
Thomas Girst is the global Head of Cultural Engagement at the BMW Group. Formerly the head of the Art Science Research Laboratory at Harvard University, Girst studied art history, American Studies and German literature at Hamburg University and New York University.
In 2016, he was made the recipient of the “European Cultural Manager of the Year” award.
His prominent publications include Art, Literature, and the Japanese American Internment; BMW Art Cars; and 100 Secrets of the Art World.
A hardback, To Paint Is In My Heart is published by Thames & Hudson and distributed in South Africa by Jonathan Ball Publishers.
Available at leading bookstores countrywide, it retails for R685.
