Isikhuni Sibuya Nomkhwezele

Abstract

This body of work Isikhuni Sibuya Nomkhwezele, translated as ‘Burning firewood is managed by the one manning the fire’ is triggered by problems emanating from the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing some of the socio-political effects of the pandemic in South Africa. It rethinks a visual representation of South Africa over the past two years and raises questions of hierarchy and its implications. The title Isikhuni sibuya nomkhwezele is a Xhosa proverb which directly translates to ‘burning firewood is managed by the one manning the fire’. This can mean that the one manning the fire may have control to provide warmth for others or that they may get burnt by the fire. This title is significant as we make sense of what has happened at a period where a worldwide urgency also highlighted how diffycult times are managed by politicians. The human element in this body of work is important – depicting those with the authority to decide over others and equally important depicting the dissapointment and doubt held in the faces of South Africans. Unfortunately many lives were lost, people lost their jobs and businesses; resulting in starvation while those priveledged appear to continuly benefit. I experimented with variation in the scale of people to contemplate the uneven demographics. The hardest hit in the country even resorted to looting; an incident that was deliberately miscontrued with the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma. I chose collage and drawing as both mimics the chaotic nature of what the country has been through. Collage also allows me to visually represent how even those seemingly unrelated incidents are connected. The use of colour and variations of techniques in drawing were boths deliberate ly applied to think through the contradictions and tensions of our time.

I am influenced by the art and colour in the drawings of Tommy Motswai, but in contrast to his mostly celebratory images, my body of work offers a critical rethinking. In many ways his work reveals a new country of wealth, dreams of good times and happiness. My drawings have an awareness of a later phase in South Africa, where many citizens are despatrately aware of contradictions and disappointments of leadership. I am also inspired by Asanda Kupa’s work who is specialising more on painting. Kupa’s work highlights notions of togetherness as Kupa often depicts groups and collectives of people all showing up for a common goal, whether it be in protests of injustices, or celebrations of joy. He also focuses on the current issues that we are facing on our everyday lives like recently the whole world was forced to shutdown because of Covid 19. In Asanda Facebook page there are more series of his art expressing how people were trying to survive through out of this, and some of my art creation is also based on that even though we are using different styles. My art works have different stories about one situation more especial when the viewer is paying more attention to those fine details that narrate the story of an artist.