Sphephelo Mnguni, a young South African contemporary artist wants to be part of the vanguard that spearheads change and bringing more art into townships and other disenfranchised areas.
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The uMlazi-raised creative’s work is based on Africanness, blackness, pop culture and Afro-surrealism.
Mnguni said the township, which is located south-west of Durban, is a beautiful community and that despite having violence, it has also seen lots of flowers bloom from the concrete.
“With painting as my primary medium, I explore black portraiture as a means to engage the black figure in their innateness - illuminating narratives of black life deliberately echoing culture, contemporary discourse and celebrating all dimensions of blackness,” he said.
The millennial added that he seeks to challenge the stereotypes surrounding blackness and help open up the industry for other young people.
Mnguni graduated with a bachelor of technology in fine art at the Durban University of Technology.
While doing an art residency in Germany, he said that he did not come across any African art in the universities he went to.
“I did not see myself represented anywhere. This bothered me, as this is the same case here at home.
“Black art is only now getting a shine due to more digital access. Even art schools predominantly teach European art and when African art is taught, it is usually earthenware, mats or other things that are regarded as functional rather than art,” he said.
The creative is also inspired by intersections of selfhood and seeks to interrogate the feelings of a permanent state of hybridity, and his moving between cultures, places and identities.
Mnguni said there is still ignorance when it comes to the importance of art in society. Through different mediums, it entertains, informs, educates and evokes emotions in individuals.
He pointed to historical movements that were started or driven forward by protest art, music, films and more. Art plays an integral role in communities, according to the Durbanite, and should be treated as such.
Mnguni said this is why he is never leaving the city, as he wants to be an inspiration to kids or emerging artists in the area. He said he wants them to see that art is not only a creative outlet, but an opportunity for a much-needed and viable career path.
“My body of work seeks to galvanise power by subverting colonialist artistic grammar to service a celebration of a new African cultural identity and finding pride in narratives of subjective blackness, re-orienting the audience to view the subjects of portraiture as regal and beautiful,” he said.
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