oil on canvas

Artwork date: 2013-2014
Signature details: signed bottom left, inscribed with the artist's name, the date, title and dimensions on the reverse
Exhibited: Everard Read, Johannesburg, 'Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi: They Are Greeting', 5 May to 5 June 2016.

(1)

100 x 110 x 3 cm

Provenance:

Private collection, Johannesburg.

Everard Read, Johannesburg.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Mmakgabo Mapula Helen Sebidi's art masterfully weaves threads of connection – between the physical and spiritual, the past and present, and between individuals and their communities. This sense of interconnection, both visible and invisible, defines much of her work and her personal journey.

The artist’s inspiring journey from rural beginnings to becoming an internationally acclaimed, award-winning artist is a story well-known and celebrated. Born in rural Mpumalanga, Sebidi’s artistic journey began under the tutelage of her grandmother, who passed down traditional craft techniques. These early lessons remained central to her development, even when she moved to Johannesburg as an adolescent to work as a domestic worker. Surrounded, by the bustling, often harsh realities of urban life – it was in the quiet early hours, before her workday began, that Sebidi drew on her grandmother’s teachings and refined her creative skills.

Sebidi’s life took a poignant turn in the late 1970s and 80s when she began formal training under the mentorship of JK Mohl and Bill Ainslie, two influential figures in South African art. Their shared journey was marked by a tragic car accident in 1989 that claimed Ainslie’s life and left Sebidi recovering from serious injuries in the hospital. It was during this time of healing that she experienced a profound "vision", one that galvanised her artistic practice and deepened her connection to art as a spiritual practice. Sebidi often spoke about visionary experiences, saying, "I don’t use my brain, I am controlled by a spirit. When the picture is finished it will speak. It will come alive and there will be movement."[1]

This notion of a living, breathing canvas is powerfully expressed in Sebidi’s works, including the current lot. It reflects her enduring preoccupation with dualities – the tension between good and evil, the spiritual and the earthly, past and present. The fragmented and distorted faces that populate her canvases embody this exploration of opposites, often juxtaposing rural and urban experiences, as well as African spiritualism and the demands of modern life. While Sebidi frequently filled her canvases with layered animals and figures jostling for space, in this work, she opts for a more restrained composition. Yet, the textured, stippled application of paint, in rich reds, blues, ochres, and purples, imparts a sense of densely packed energy. The figures, with their overlapping angles and shifting faces, seem to pulsate with life, recalling the dynamism of African mythological fables and folklore.

Here, Sebidi presents a group of figures – stoic yet expressive – gathered in what appears to be a communal ritual or offering. The outstretched arms holding a vessel evoke a sense of reverence, while the clustered group of figures opposite them suggests a spiritual communion or ancestral connection. Sebidi’s technique, characterised by a distinctive impasto and pointillist approach, infuses the piece with texture and vibrancy. Her ability to blend multiple perspectives, where faces seem to morph and merge into one another, reflects her fascination with fragmented identities and complex human experiences, where no single figure stands alone.

In many of her works Sebidi communicates an acute awareness of the tension between the spiritual and secular, suggesting a deeper connection to African spirituality, grounding the figures in earthly rituals while acknowledging the presence of an otherworldly realm. The sky above the figures, painted with warm yellows and soft blues, glows with a surreal, ethereal light, reminiscent of van Gogh’s Starry Night, hinting at the spiritual energies that permeate the scene. The sun (or moon?), suspended low on the horizon, suggests a twilight moment – a time of transitions, reinforcing Sebidi’s themes of the cyclical nature of life and death, of the past giving way to the present.

As the first Black woman to win the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1989, Sebidi paved the way for future generations of African artists. Her work is a tribute to contemporary African life, confronting both its challenges and its hopes. Sebidi’s art speaks not only to the complexities of existence but also to the enduring connection to African spirituality, the traditions of storytelling, and the myths that have shaped her personal journey.

Amy Carrington

^{[1] Everard Read, MMakgabo Mapula Helen Sebidi. [online]. Available: https://www.everard-read.co.za/artist/MMAKGABO%20MAPULA%20HELEN_SEBIDI/biography/]}

COLLECTOR'S NOTE

• Earlier this year, Helen Sebidi presented a solo exhibition, Ntlo E Etsamayang (The Walking House), at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery from 6 April - 17 May 17 and at the Everard Read gallery in Cape Town from 13-31 July. The exhibition included works that were presumed stolen for over 3 decades. In 1991, Sebidi traveled to Sweden’s Nyköping Folk High School for a residency, bringing her most significant works, which she entrusted to the school after a planned exhibition was postponed. Unfortunately, the artworks were thought stolen until they were unexpectedly discovered, still in their original packaging, in a concealed cupboard at the school in May 2023.

• Sebidi was recognised with a solo exhibition titled Batlhaping Ba Re! at the Norval Foundation in Cape Town in 2019.

• The artist was the first Black woman to win the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1989.

COLLECTIONS:

The artist is represented in numerous local and international collections, notably, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.; Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, New York, World Bank, Johannesburg Art Gallery; Javett Art Centre, Pretoria; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; University of Cape Town; University of South Africa, Pretoria and the University of the Witwatersrand.