PRESS RELEASE
PHILLEMON HLUNGWANI: Nwansati wa matimba a nga heli mongo
Nov 7 – Nov 28, 2018
Everard Read / CIRCA Cape Town are proud to present Nwansati wa matimba a nga heli mongo (A strong woman never gives up) by Phillemon Hlungwani. This is Hlungwani's first major solo exhibition at the Everard Read Cape Town gallery. Opening on 7th November at 18:30 the exhibition runs until the 28th November 2018.
In this exhibition Phillemon Hlungwani returns to the etching press which is his first love and whose arcane and ancient skills he has mastered like no other – He also reprises a theme which is seminal to understanding who he is as a person and thence as an artist.
Raised in a rural African village by a mother widowed young he grew up watching women work so that they and their families would survive. The unrelenting labour of women is a reality but to Hlungwani it is what nurtured his body and his talents, and he sees in it both love and redemption in their purest sense.
These complex and technically brilliant etchings take everyday subjects and make them clear to us (like purifying murky water) and in some of them he makes delicate use of hand colouring thus emphasising the femininity of his subjects.
These works have been made with the assistance of master printer Pontsho Sikhosana and her team at the Artist Proof Studio.
- Trent Read
