At the age of eighty-eight, the legendary Dr Esther Mahlangu has outlived the legal institution of South Africa, and witnessed the dissolution of apartheid in South Africa. Her distinctive and prolific artwork has come to represent the resilience of the evolving Ndebele culture that she has uplifted and preserved. Untitled (1990) represents an early example of Mahlangu’s signature transposition of Ndebele techniques for painting buildings to new surfaces, including, most commonly, canvas. Mahlangu typically paints as per Ndebele custom, learned from her mother and grandmother from the age of ten: freehand, without a ruler nor prior sketches, and with a chicken-feather brush, prioritising straight lines and balance. Although bound by the canvas, the bright shapes and vivid white lines set against thick black borders evoke the symmetry and repetition of large-scale, abstract Ndebele murals, as well as the contradictory sense of movement induced by cumulative gestures of angle and pattern. While nodding to the subdued earth tones customarily created through the mixture of clay, soil, and cow dung, this work’s bold, flat colours prioritise the blue and purple hues and vibrant shades made realisable during Mahlangu’s childhood and continue to characterise her style.
This is the first time the work of Esther Mahlangu is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Ruth Ramsden-Karelse
