Bambo Sibiya honours mom with homecoming art exhibition
'I always felt like my mother was a superhero'
Bambo Sibiya's homecoming art exhibition celebrates the strength of women by paying homage to his mother.
In his latest solo exhibition is called Ngemva Kokuqubuka – After Precarity. The vivid portraits of black figures are thrust in the wonderment of colour, print and rich texture in adept abstractions and techniques. The exhibition hangs gloriously on the walls of the architectural Circa Gallery in Rosebank, north of Johannesburg. Sibiya last showcased his artwork in Mzansi seven years ago.
“It's not that I was running away from home... there is no place like home,” says the 38-year-old artist from Springs on the East Rand.
“I felt like I had been celebrating with the rest of the world, but back home no one was celebrating or archiving these moments and I just wanted to share this glory, especially with this exhibition that celebrates the strength of women using my mom as the centre figure. I felt it belonged here. There is no good or bad timing to come back home as there are always warm hands waiting for you.”
A quick study of Sibiya's handsome résumé boosts accomplishments such as exhibitions hosted in famed galleries and artwork sold in esteemed auction houses. It goes without question that he has left an indelible impression on the local and international art world.
Bringing the larger-than-life canvas to life are real people Jabulile, Minki and Hlehle, whose glamorous titles are the art pieces that Sibiya shot before translating them onto the canvas. The multidisciplinary artist says this happy incident further denotes the layered complexities of black human life. This is seen in his approach of making art and the multiple techniques he infuses into the individual pieces.
“I trained as a graphic designer and printmaker and I'm skilled in painting, graphic design and sculptural work, but printmaking became my technique of choice,” Sibiya says.
“With this piece, Embracing 2, there are about 12 layers and I do each layer separately. This is why I also like working on several pieces simultaneously. While a layer dries, I can jump to the next one and do another layer.
"Mediums acrylic and charcoal are used for painting. The patterns that one can see are dust pigment which is acrylic, a nontoxic paint. Charcoal is used in the final layer."
Weaved subtly between the charcoal, acrylic brushstrokes and dust pigments is the cream-hued doyle fabric, personalising his mother’s presence throughout the artwork. Spotlighted in the centre of the gallery floor is the muse mannequin donned in the re-purposed domestic worker uniform that was worn by his mother.
“I always felt like my mom was a superhero. She would leave in the morning for work dressed as an ordinary person but when she would get to work she would transform into this superhero as a helper," Sibiya says.
"At home, she would come back and transform to be our mom and into another superhero that would take care of another family.”
Sibiya tapped on the skillset of fashion designer Nina Sedumedi to give the garment its second life and give the artwork its fashion notes.
“I took the dress and redesigned it but kept the characteristics of what a domestic worker's uniform would have. I kept the aprons and the straight shape of the dress but added volume to it,” Sibiya says.
“The dress code that she transforms to at home is beautiful and warm, and something that would represent her. This element adds to the layers of the work. It [dress] determines the final product of the art piece.”
On the horizon is part two of the exhibition that zooms in on the significance of black hair. The hair crowns featured in the portraits as standalone bronzed sculptural pieces. Sibiya created all the hair crowns for the artwork.
“The second phase will have these sculptural hair pieces cast in bronze and make limited edition sculptures. Hair became iconic for this body of work because it symbolises beauty, the actual queen, and as a queen, you are never complete without your crown,” he says.
Opportunity continues to knock on Sibiya’s door in the form of a collaboration with a fabric company to re-create the background of his artwork into a limited-edition wallpaper.
“The idea is to possibly collaborate with Fabric Bank to create a limited edition of wallpapers that can be brought separately as wallpaper without purchasing the actual painting with the backgrounds. Do limited silk fabric and the actual wallpaper for interior spaces. It's still in discussion but hopefully we will get to that part," he says enthusiastically.