Mthobisi Maphumulo
Mthobisi Maphumulo is a South African contemporary artist born in 1988 at Imfume Mission in the KwaZulu-Natal south coast. He is the founder of Amasosha Art Movement.
My work is an investigation of the socio-political construction of African communities in neo-colonial South Africa. My work also serves as a meditation on the past to probe and celebrate the contribution of African design in shaping language and the social status of the people. This is achieved through the use of embedded designs, colour and shapes in garments and household items. This is meant to bring meaning to life and also to connect the past and the present. I use oil pastels to reimagine and recreate a variety of design patterns in most of the garments worn by my characters and their backgrounds. The spiritual, domestic and royal designs embedded in these garments transpose the narratives of the subjects and bring them to a space of new possibilities. These design patterns are also a metaphoric device I use to restore pride and royalty. They are critical in the expression of identity and dignity to people of colour in the continent and of the diaspora. Moreover, these patterns celebrate virtues such as patience, unity and craftsmanship. These are values that have been central for people of colour surviving various atrocities in the continent of Africa and across the diaspora. Last, but not least, the use of patterns aims to highlight the systematic inconsistencies of society.
Email: mthobisiart@gmail.com
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