Notes

Based in Johannesburg, Bambo Sibiya translates traditional printmaking techniques onto canvas using charcoal and acrylic. Recipient of the ABSA L’Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award in 2012, he spent the following year in Paris, taking a residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts. Represented internationally by the Jack Bell Gallery in London, Sibiya’s work deals with South African politics and daily life; specifically on the streets of Johannesburg’s townships. His art revolves around the Zulu philosophy ‘Ubuntu Ngabantu’, which means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.¹

“My recent series focuses on early township life and each work looks into the subculture that started in the mining industry. I’m really fascinated about how the migrating community survive away from home. A lot of young men and women moved from rural areas to Johannesburg in the early days of South Africa searching for a better life. The mining industry was the main source of work and being the time of apartheid, it was not easy for a lot of black people to endure. Apart from facing the white power, they had to deal with their own social issues. But what captures my attention is how they fought back to their challenges and how they created this subculture to keep going.”²

1. https://gunsandrain.com/artist/bambo-sibiya/

2. https://www.jackbellgallery.com/artists/75-bambo-sibiya/overview/