Biography

Nadine Mathenjwa is an emerging artist born and raised in the East Rand, Tembisa, South Africa. In 2018 Mathenjwa matriculated at Rhodesfield Technical High Shool. She is currently completing her third-year at Artist Proof Studio.  Mathenjwa aspires to be a well-known innovative and contemporary South African artist in the creative industry. Her goals are to exhibit her works.

Artist Statement

“My body of work focuses on the hybrid cultures that western society introduced my ancestors to, I am a young black woman navigating for an identity in a society where information on native cultures has been washed down, as most young people I find solace in fashion it has become a great part of my evolved culture, my self-expression, identity and individuality. As much as my work is about paying homage to the lifestyle that my ancestors and family chose to make out of colonisation my work is also about the subcultures  that the millennials and gen Z have created, particularly those of fashion and luxury or ghetto fabulous lifestyle. These subcultures have become part of the movement towards changing the narrative about what it is to be young, African and cultured.

I often use tribal patterns on the figures which are a representation of the information on ancient African beliefs and history that I unravel through watching documentaries and finding books on African spirituality, with the patterns I aim to shift the demonised notions on African spirituality and rituals. Black on black violence is a topic that hits home I get anxiety from hearing stories about the violence that happens in South Africa. My use of popping, bright colours is a coping mechanism for the anxiety and negative energy that surrounds black communities, it is a way of also trying to bring light to the community and turning around the animosity among different African nations into positive energy. I believe that if we become united we could prosper as a people and return to how our ancestors lived.”