Notes

“Walls were the first things I came across as a young man … from the age of four or five, in the rural areas. For me, it was a great thing. I recall one day we were sitting at the back of the kraal, sharing coffee with my grandpa and ma. I took a stick and started doing my own design. Both were looking, and then I was suddenly told, ‘Look you should not be doing this. This is a woman’s thing. It’s taboo for men to do wall designs’. I was taken aback and immediately got scared. So I would usually do these things where I couldn’t be seen by others, especially boys of my own age. If they came and found me doing a drawing, I would quickly erase it with my foot. When they asked me what I was doing I would say, ‘Drawing a cow’, and it would end there.”—Durant Sihlali¹

^1. https://imbaliartbooks.org.za/durant-sihlali/, accessed 6 June 2023.

Provenance

The Investec Art Collection, Cape Town.