Images of South African History 1

CCAC #: 0197A
Artwork title: Images of South African History 1
Artist(s): Sipho Ndlovu
Year made: c. 1998
Artwork type: Painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions (mm): 2080 x 1865
Artwork series: Images of South African History
Source: Bought from the artist in Cape Town
Year acquired: 2004
Installation type: Movable artwork
Current location: In storage
Exhibitions:
Signage:

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.


CCAC 433670

Photographer: Ben Law-Viljoen
Photo copyright: CCT

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NOTE: The process of photographing artworks in the CCAC is underway - we are currently working to improve image quality and display on the CMS but have included internal reference photos for identification purposes in the interim.