Images of South African History 1

In 1999 Sipho produced this series of four paintings depicting the history of South Africans from the 1800s to the present day. In these paintings, the artist wanted to tell his own story through images or paintings like how you would read a story in a book.

The artist realised that there are stages in South African life: the armed struggle, resistance to colonialism, and apartheid. Sipho tried to document these stages of life through his work of the normal lives of people in South Africa. The artist's intent in his paintings was to let the people see what was happening in our country.

The artist says “Images are not like writing, a picture tells more than a thousand words”, in one of his paintings he depicts people toyi-toying for water due to the lack of service delivery. The artworks speak to distinctive periods in South Africa’s history and were bought from the artist in Cape Town by Albie Sachs and donated to the Collection.