Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi

Mmakgabo Mmapula Helen Sebidi was born in 1943 in Marapyane, Mpumalanga. Sebidi was raised by her grandmother, who instilled ideals that would guide and sustain her. This includes being involved in the community through creative activities like cooking, making mud walls, creating murals, making pots and calabashes, weaving, beading, dressmaking, drawing, and painting. She works on a variety of themes, including her cultural heritage, the wisdom of ancestors, the effects of modern life on the human psyche, the loss of tradition in African communities, and the power of human creativity to form relationships and restore the past.

Sebidi trained in a number of informal art institutions in Johannesburg and has displayed her work—primarily ceramics, landscapes, and figurative themes drawn from her home in Marapyane—at places such as Artists Under the Sun in Johannesburg. However, it was while working at the Johannesburg Art Foundation that she created her first semi-abstract work, a frenetic, visionary work produced during a painting marathon under the guidance of David Koloane and Bill Ainslie. The artist received the Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year Award in 1989 and won a Fulbright Scholarship in 1990. In addition, she received the Vita Art Award in 1990 and the Silver Award of the Order of Ikhamanga in 2004.

Sebidi recovered 28 lost artworks that were discovered at the Nyköping Folk High School in Sweden after they had been missing for 32 years. In 2024, the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery, in cooperation with Everard Read Gallery and the Embassy of Sweden Pretoria, presented these artworks, co-curated by Gabriel Baard and Prof. Kim Berman. The compelling exhibition, titled Ntlo E Etsamayang (The Walking House), celebrated the remarkable artistic journey and commitment to indigenous knowledge systems of Sebidi. Sebidi’s artworks serve as a compelling reminder of the enduring connections forged through artistic expression and cross-cultural dialogue.

Sources: https://arts.uj.ac.za/whats-on/mmakgabo-helen-sebidis-keiaha-ntlo-e-tsamayang-comes-to-the-uj-art-gallery/ [ Accessed 11 September 2024]

https://www.everard-read-capetown.co.za/artist/MMAKGABO%20HELEN_SEBIDI/biography [ Accessed 11 September 2024]

https://www.davidkrutbookstores.com/books/mmakgabo-helen-sebidi-educational-supplement/ [ Accessed 11 September 2024]