Collection: Cromwell Ngobeni

”Ku tlula ka mhala ku letela n’wana wale ndzeni” is a Tsonga idiomatic phrase that means that as the impala jumps it teaches the child inside to leap as well, the phrase also suggests that whatever you do will be copied by the young ones.
“When I was a child I was continuously being bullied. In order to protect myself, my mother taught me how to fight. Throughout my life, fighting became a huge part of who I was and it turned me into someone who was unable to control my emotions without resorting to violence.
I draw on these experiences and use this body of work as a process of catharsis in reassessing the way I was raised as minor. I believe that whatever we do as adults, will be repeated by our children. I am trying to change this cycle through this body of work. I use pen on paper, charcoal, ink, watercolour and etching to communicate my emotions. Through self-portraiture I capture different phases of my emotions and transfer these images onto etching plates.
I also use my body in various poses and gestures that display my tangled emotions. The line work used to create aspects of my body image when caught in conflict. The medium of etching expresses and reflects the physical degree of my emotions on steel which is transferred onto paper. These tangled lines are a metaphor for the inner turmoil of my emotions. As I developed the body of work over the year, the pose and gesture of my body and face became more passive and less aggressive. The making of this work was a cathartic process.