Four artists from South Africa and Zimbabwe have come together in Cape Town for an exhibition that questions the culture of artistic individualism and asks what becomes possible when artists create in dialogue rather than isolation.
Titled "Delete Nton’ntoni", the exhibition brings together the work of Zimbabwean-born artists Tafadzwa Tega and Knowledge Marongedza, alongside South African artists Lwando Dlamini and Luyanda Mkhuthungu.
Now all based in Cape Town, the four artists are exhibiting together for the first time at HUB Gallery, where the exhibition runs until October 26.
Although each artist has developed a distinct visual language and explores deeply personal subject matter, their work intersects around themes of identity, migration, memory, care, relationships, community and resilience.
The exhibition's title brings together two ideas. “Nton’ntoni”, an isiXhosa expression meaning “and so forth” or “something like that”, points to habitual repetition, the tendency to continue doing things in familiar ways without questioning them.
The second reference is the digital command Ctrl+Z, commonly used to undo or delete an action.
Together, the two references become a call to rethink established habits and imagine different ways of working and relating.
The four artists, who have come together for the first time in an exhibition, work across painting and mixed media, each maintaining a distinctive voice and practice.
For Mkhuthungu, the exhibition is particularly about challenging the expectation that artists should work alone.
“For me, the exhibition is about pressing Ctrl+Z on isolation and creating more space for dialogue, connection and collaboration between artists,” he said.
Working across mixed media, he uses figures, everyday objects, beer crates, domestic spaces and familiar township patterns to tell stories of family, survival, care and community.
The Eastern Cape-born artist said his experiences of family, township life and being raised by a single mother have had a strong influence on his artistic practice.
His upbringing around a shebeen environment has also shaped his visual vocabulary.
"I use figures, everyday objects, beer crates, domestic spaces, patterns and other familiar township elements to tell stories about family, survival, care and community," said Mkhuthungu.
For him, the collaboration is not about making the four artists look alike.
“We did not try to make the same kind of work. Instead, each artist brought their own experiences, materials and visual language.
"Tafadzwa curated the exhibition and helped create connections between the different works. I think the strength of the exhibition is that our differences are still able to speak to each other," he said.
Mkhuthungu said through his art he would like to show that ordinary experiences and environments can hold deep meaning.
His work also pays particular attention to women and the strength of single mothers.
"I am interested in telling stories about people whose everyday lives are often overlooked. A major part of my work is paying tribute to single mothers and the sacrifices they make, while also showing the beauty, strength, humour and sense of community that can exist within difficult circumstances.
"People have responded to the honesty and personal nature of the works, and I have especially appreciated conversations around how different experiences can still connect with one another. For me, one of the most important things has been seeing people recognise something familiar in the works and then starting conversations about their own experiences," he said.
Mkhuthungu studied painting and mixed media at the Frank Joubert Art Centre and later completed an Art and Design Diploma at the College of Cape Town.
His practice works across painting and mixed media, with a focus currently on portraiture and storytelling through personal experiences, township environments and everyday objects.
He has exhibited his work in various group exhibitions and continues to develop his practice from his studio.
Knowledge Marongedza, formerly from Zimbabwe, approaches painting through everyday objects and domestic scenes, using them as vessels for memory, identity and cultural continuity.
For him, the exhibition title represents a phrase shared across the two countries, despite their different national contexts.
"We clicked when we met because we have the same language, which is art. All my pieces in the exhibition talks about the memory of a society in a very dusty and muddy remote area, where I was born and raised.
"I paint people being represented by the colour. It’s easy to recognise family and friends from a distance because you know their whole wardrobe. You know there’s no one else with a green except him/her. And when he’s wearing yellow it’s obvious he’s heading somewhere," said Marongedza.
Clothing, he said, can become a marker of identity and belonging, communicating something about how individuals choose to be seen within their communities.
Marongedza said they were spreading love through one voice, despite coming from different nations.
"Even though we have different practices our show is the best in town. We wear what we are. Our clothes are our identity. You can identify a doctor because of the way they dress. It’s our everyday choice to show our societies how we want people to see us as individuals," said Marongedza.
Tega, also from Zimbabwe, works primarily in oil on canvas. His figurative paintings, often drawn from photographs, explore Zimbabwean resilience and the realities of forced migration.
His interest in migration comes partly from observing people who leave their home countries in search of work.
“I drew inspiration by reflecting on the people who migrate from one country to another for work,” Tega said.
He is particularly struck by the contrast between migrants’ qualifications and the jobs they are sometimes forced to take in their new surroundings.
“It saddens me to see people who have degrees back home having to [do] menial jobs like washing dishes or cleaning when they move. But they do it with a smile on their face,” he said.
For Tega, the exhibition's title captures the connection between people from different backgrounds.
“We speak one language yet come from different backgrounds. And art is a universal language that brings people together.
“We bring love to the people through our art,” he said.
Tega was introduced to art at the age of 10 while spending time with an artist cousin at his grandmother’s house. Born into an artistic family, he later challenged himself to attend art school and, after graduating from the School of Arts, moved to South Africa in search of greater opportunities.
Dlamini, from the Eastern Cape, works with highly textured painting and explores the fragility and strength of the black body.
Rather than placing four separate practices side by side, Delete Nton’ntoni creates a space in which their differences become part of the conversation.
At the centre of the exhibition is a simple proposition: instead of repeating what has always been done, press Ctrl+Z and make room for something different.
taschica.pillay@nationalmg.co.za