The NWU Botanical Gardens Gallery, in collaboration with the History of Arts and Graphic Design students is proud to present I SEE YOU: TELLING THROUGH FACES, a group exhibition by five (5) artists, three are based in Potchefstroom, one in Klerksdorp and another in the South of Johannesburg. Buhle Sithole; Jacob Butinyana; Kgothatso Diale, Vuyani Lephoto and Prince Nhlapho.

The history of portraiture started about five thousand (5000) years ago as seen in the famous bronze cast masks and sculptures of the Kingdom of Benin. Portraiture also gained prominence in ancient Egypt and Rome where life-sized sculptures and tonal portraits were created to capture and restore the likeliness of people. This art form found itself in the Western world where it was embraced by the infamous Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio.

With the passing of time, more artists started taking risks in reinterpreting portraiture (moving towards mediums like photography, digital art, and drawing), as can be seen from artists like Zanele Muholi and Takashi Murakami. Confronting loss, death, and self-hood; Frida Kahlo paved a way for the slightly macabre artists and women to express themselves. Salvador Dalí's provocateur inspired many artists to confront and unlock the human psyche where their creativity lies. The rebellious and marvelously creative spirit of one of the most influential Black artists of our generation and the ones before, Jean-Michel Basquiat continues to inspire young creatives to push limits.

In life, we all wish to find those who can see us. Those who can see our true nature and essence and appreciate it as bare or as embellished as it comes. In today’s world, the human face is under intense scrutiny. We relentlessly police the way we look, how clear our skin is, how big or small our lips and noses are and how much closer our faces are to the golden ratio. We also mask or hide our emotions in fear of being judged. In all this, we forget to take a moment and see. See the uniqueness and true beauty of our faces. See the features we inherited from our parents and our grandparents. And see the likeliness we will inevitably pass down to our children. As Langston Hughes said in his poem from Weary Blues, “The night is beautiful, so the faces of my people. The stars are beautiful, so the eyes of my people. Beautiful, also, is the sun. Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.”

The exhibition will focus on celebrating, embracing, and discussing the human face as a subject of art and as a canvas. Themes of self-expression, womanhood, defiance, and experimentation are visited. Artists were given the exhibition brief and were free to address and interpret these themes as they pleased. Some were already creating this type of art, making them a perfect instrument in this exhibition. An example of this theme can be seen in the painting of Jacob Butinyana, where he celebrates the feminine beauty of the African women he encounters in his life. Our uniqueness, rage, beauty, and worries are represented in a symphony of faces.

The show includes five artists: Buhle Sithole, an illustrator whose style has remained fluid over the years but solid in her inspiration from graffiti; while Jacob Butinyana, a visual artist mainly working with paint emphasizes emotional and personal expression in his vibrant works; pencil artist Kgothatso Diale knows no limits in creating realistic and adorned figures; Vuyani Lephoto, a digital artist and aspiring painter who deconstructs and reconstructs the human face in abstract forms; and Prince Nhlapho, affectionately known as DONOTFEEDYOUREGO, a freelance photographer, director and copywriter whose every frame tells a story and every scene unfolds with cinematic brilliance.

he exhibition is curated by Joy Dayile. The opening reception will be on the 6th of September 2024 and will run till the 18th of September 2024.

For more information, please contact:

NWU Art Gallery Administrator, Amogelang Ngake

• Tel: (018) 299 4341
• Email: amo.ngake@nwu.ac.za

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