Artists From South Africa

"I don’t have a ‘feminist artist statement’ as such. Being a woman is only one aspect of who I am."

"Searle pays constant attention to the social issues and movements in South Africa, such as xenophobia, access to housing, land and political protests. Her work is not reducible to simple poignant condemning. Rather, through her visual language, ripe with symbolism and narrativity, she creates the entanglement of poetic and violent imagery which captures the contradictions and complexities of South Africa."

"We were denied the experience of knowing what Nelson Mandela looked like. We were denied the experience of each other's lives." Still, "one developed ways around the system that were illicit but expressive . . . we all learned, as it were, to wiggle and squiggle."

"As much as Pinky Pinky is a perpetrator of violence, it also seems a victim of, and scapegoat for, violent, uncivil actions – a constructed 'something' to blame for social problems."

"I believe that encounters with lively matter can chasten my fantasies of human mastery, highlight the common materiality of all that is, expose a wider distribution of agency and reshape the self and its interests"

""I was always interested in objects as carriers of meanings beyond themselves, they are physical traces of time, of people's lives and social histories, like an archive, which I use similarly to how I use film...its an ephemeral art really. The objects get taken down and become like paint tubes again"."

""The constant evolution of the installations and the meanings made from them functions as a generative force in Siopis's work. One thing nestled next to another or dropped over another, creating countless relationships. They're endless these bits of relationships between things and objects and spaces"."

"The material process of the paintings is a fluid affair; the glue’s capacity to change its form and colour when it comes into contact with other forces – air, gravity, water, my gestures – imbues it with a presence that holds onto itself as ‘something other’, yet can simultaneously take on the guise of an image."

"With global warming, what do we imagine? Burning? Drowning? Absolute alterity? And what forms – or formlessnesses – do we imagine this through?"

""Penny Siopis is one of the few artists in the world today who can weave a material web of marks, gestures, voices, words, found things and painted surfaces to entangle the brute forces of history with the delicate threads of human vulnerability"."

"From the outset, her attitude to painting has been simultaneously modernist and counter-modernist in its complex irreverence to the purity of both creative act and the physical medium."

"Many of these prosthetics are "traditionally" flesh colour, a kind of dirty pink. There is irony here, as flesh colour is not just a category of colour, but nothing less than a western conceit in which whiteness (pink) becomes the universal colour for flesh"

""Sopis's Will is the ultimate time piece...We are able to glance back on a life-in-formation and recognize the subject as discursively produced, 'as project, something to be built"

"The physical, conceptual, mental or temporal flexibility that the three projects propose de-construct the sacredness of national memory narratives (shaped strongly by collective traumas and their political exploitation)."

"In the context of South Africa, these questions inevitably touch upon the political and historical disposition of the space, as the historical surroundings inform us on a traumatic past of apartheid."

"Artistic practices of performance in contemporary art and theater, through reenactments, involve the public in activities that question the status quo, mobilize, and render visible that, which has been obscured by the official gaze."

"The past is part of our identity and eve as i sit in Europe thousands miles away from my country, my mind is focused on my ancestors, my past and my culture."

"Her work, inspired by European rural life and nuns from the Sisters of Mercy order, achieved international recognition, with her Walking Nuns painting selling thousands of copies worldwide."

"She was one of seven artists representing contemporary South African art in Lisbon. Simultaneously, she was commissioned to create four abstract mural panels, titled The Discovery of Gold in the Witwatersrand, for the President Hotel in Johannesburg."

"Aileen's exploration into steel led to kinetic sculptures, introducing movement and dynamic elements to her art."

"The spiritual life of the Malians, marked by acceptance of fate, inspired her to appreciate the harmony of living with circumstances."

"The resilience and stoicism of the Mandingo kingdom, along with the vibrant markets of Bamako and Timbuktu, shifted her focus to capturing daily life with urgency and authenticity. The spiritual life of the Malians, marked by acceptance of fate, inspired her to appreciate the harmony of living with circumstances."

""I started because of a dream. It took a very long time, because I didn't understand it well. This was in 1965 and in 1974, I started the work"."

"If nothing happens, our children will die suffering, like their grandparents. We sacrifice, but we are not seeing the changes."

"Some youths are lazy and addicted to alcohol and drug abuse. That is also killing our country,"

"This is the picture of a woman who, after some differences with her husband, embarks on a lonely journey with food over her head for her child,"

"These days, people are killing each other and killing children as well. It is very disturbing. We are living in a society that needs leadership."

"I believe that artwork should not be hidden, but the manner in which we have been robbed, it keeps one worried that it's better to keep one's work on the shelves,"

"Her skill made her the first black woman, and the only Venda woman in South Africa, to become a famous wood carver. She also began to create works which followed more contemporary themes."

"Her work contemplates the feeling of social rejection, censure, and disapproval that comes with diverging from the established guidelines of accepted and expected behaviour."

"Her figures of traditional ceremonies, women with babies, and those that capture daily life around her reflect profound expressiveness and mastering of her craft. She conveys the experience of apartheid from a Venda women’s perspective focusing in the exploration of her origins, displacement, race, and sex."

"“Ndebele painting comes from a context of architecture. It is the painting of the house.""

"“Geometry and pattern is a theme that just permeates African art,”"

"Cushing, Nathan (17 September 2014). "South African artist painting commissioned murals at VMFA". RVA News. Retrieved 24 March 2025."

"“I want them to take away a sense of excitement, a sense of how vibrant the arts are in Africa,”"

"This culture must not die. Our young people are vandalising our traditions. This is why I try to motivate them"

"“Our young people don’t wear the clothes or respect their forefathers, the girls have hair extensions and wear western clothes. This does not make me feel comfortable. They are vandalising our traditions. This is why I talk to them, try to motivate them with my travels and teach them too about Aids.”"

""I love to travel, but I love most to come home again. It makes me happy if people like Ndebele art.”"

"“Ndebele art is naturally grandiose in form and only needed the concept of motion added.”"

"“My art has evolved from the tribal tradition of decorating our homes. The patterns I have used on the BMW Art Car marry tradition to the essence of BMW.”"

"“I always watched my mother and grandmother when they were decorating the house,”"

"“The original patterns that were painted on the houses in the past were part of a ritual of Ndebele people to announce events like a birth, death, wedding, or when a boy goes off to the initiation school. I started painting on canvas and board as I realized not everybody will be able to see the Ndebele painting in Mpumalanga where I live, and I felt I need to take it to them to see. This is how my work started to be exhibited in museums and galleries around the world.”"

"Cashdan, Marina (23 September 2016). "Esther Mahlangu Is Keeping Africa's Ndebele Painting Alive". Artsy. Retrieved 24 March 2025."

"“In the old days, the decoration on the houses was always done with natural pigment and cow dung as that was the only material available,”"

"“When looking at a Ndebele mural, people get a smile of amazement on their faces. And if they watch me paint, they can’t believe that I don’t use a ruler to paint the lines, and that my hand is so steady, even at my age. If people see the bright colors, they are happy. And it makes me happy as well, as I love to paint; it is in my heart and in my blood.”"

"“To paint is in my heart and in my blood,”"

"“When you get married, you paint your first house. It’s very important to have straight lines and not zigzag lines because your family members will come and look. If your lines are perfectly straight, then you are a very good wife and can look after your family.”"

"“Every single afternoon when they went to have a nap, I’d try to paint. I got into trouble every day until eventually they realized that in my heart I wanted to paint.”"

"Mun-Delsalle, Y.-Jean. "Esther Mahlangu, One Of South Africa's Most Famous Artists, Perpetuates Traditional Ndebele Painting". Forbes. Retrieved 24 March 2025."

"“What many find interesting about my artworks is that although they are based on traditional Ndebele designs, they are still very modern and current. They can fit into a home or office anywhere in the world and don’t appear dated.”"