Pitika Ntuli

Pitika Ntuli, a self-taught sculptor and poet, was born in 1942 in Springs, Gauteng, and was raised in Witbank, Mpumalanga. Ntuli became inspired to pursue art after working as a traditional healer. He was introduced to sculpting in the presence of his uncle, who also served as his spiritual teacher, when he envisioned what a tree would look like if it were human. His early political activism and aggressive participation in the opposition to the apartheid government resulted in his exile to Swaziland in 1963, where he was held as a political prisoner. As a result, he spent a year in solitary confinement in a Swaziland death row cell before being released to the United Kingdom in 1978 due to international pressure on South Africa and Swaziland authorities.

Ntuli holds a Master of Arts in Fine Art from the Pratt Institute in New York and a Master of Arts in Comparative Industrial Relations and Industrial Sociology from Brunel University in London. According to him, education and training are crucial because they make it possible to share ideas with a variety of people and introduce one to methods they might not otherwise encounter. He is a polymath with interests in politics, art, and academia who is curious to investigate the conflicting dynamics between modernity and tradition. He has lectured at several universities, including the University of the Witwatersrand and Central St. Martin's College of Art. He also served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Durban Westville until 2003. In addition, during the 1980s and 1990s, he was an artist-in-residence at London schools and colleges.

He has produced various exhibitions and, as an artist, has had multiple solo exhibitions in South Africa, Germany, and the United Kingdom. His sculptures are in numerous collections, including the Constitutional Court Art Collection in Johannesburg and the African American Institute in New York. He held his debut exhibition in South Africa after his return in 2010 at Museum Africa in Johannesburg, followed by an exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery in 2011. Ntuli also authored a book, The Scent of Invisible Footprints: the Sculpture of Pitika Ntuli, which was published by the University of South Africa in 2010.

Sources:

https://themelrosegallery.com/artists/30-pitika-ntuli/biography/ [ Accessed 18 September 2024]

https://themelrosegallery.com/artists/30-pitika-ntuli/overview/ [ Accessed 18 September 2024]

https://artafricamagazine.org/pitika-ntuli/[ Accessed 18 September 2024]

https://www.brucedennill.co.za/2020/06/24/artist-interview-pitika-ntuli-return-to-the-source-or-inspired-to-the-marrow/ [ Accessed 18 September 2024]

http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/pitika-ntuli [ Accessed 18 September 2024]