(“My Sole Provider”, painting by Sibusiso Duma)Sibusiso Duma, much loved artist from KwaZulu-Natal has produced a series of paintings titled Coming of Age. The catalyst for these new works, he says, is his recent experience of marriage, new responsibilities and the challenges he faces as provider for his family of three and the extended family of his deceased sister. He reveals that these paintings have aided him in exploring the complex and extended process of maturation that has occurred in his life over the past year.
Beginning with the painting titled My Sole Provider; Duma pays homage to the role that his single mother played in his life, a reality he has only recently came to understand and appreciate. Growing up in a typically traditional Zulu household, his mother was responsible for the crops, maintaining the household, tending the cattle and raising her family.
In his paintings titled, Marriage Tools and Responsibilities of a Father, Duma contemplates whether he has the knowledge or the necessary tools to build a happy marriage by cleverly alluding to personal icons and metaphors in his everyday life.
Born in Durban in 1978, Duma developed a talent for drawing at an early age and spent most of his time drawing houses and cars on the walls of his home. Recognizing his talent, his older brother introduced him to fellow artist and musician Trevor Makhoba. Between 1994 and 2003, Makhoba mentored the young artist through his Philange Art Project based in a small room behind his house in Umlazi.
Makhoba’s early influence extracted from him his preoccupation with social and personal issues which have remained paramount throughout his career. The dominance of the human figure; frequently placed in the centre of the canvas, has become the channel for the narratives of his life. His exceptional use of metaphors, large surfaces of colour and surreal composition reveal a fine balance between reality and fantasy.
Sibusiso held his first solo exhibition at AVA (Association of Visual Arts) in Cape Town in 2008 and continues to exhibit his work at the African Art Centre in Durban and galleries in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
In 2010, he was selected as one of ten finalists in the ABSA Atelier Exhibition in Johannesburg. His work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the Durban Art Gallery, the Tatham Art Gallery, the Killie Campbell Collection and the Bruce Campbell-Smith Collection in Cape Town.
More information from the African Art Centre, 94 Florida Road Morningside, Durban, on 031 312 3804/5 or 031 303 4634.
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