Bambo Sibiya

Custodians of the Swenka, 2018

Limited edition

Stone lithograph
3 colors
Edition of 15
Printed at Atelier le Grand Village

CM H 35 W 50

IN H 13.78 W 19.69

Signed by artist

€500.00

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About the work

Custodians of the Swenka, 2018

Artist's statement: "My recent series focuses on early township life and each work looks into the subculture that started in the mining industry. I’m really fascinated about how the migrating community survive away from home. A lot of young men and women moved from rural areas to Johannesburg in the early days of South Africa searching for a better life. The mining industry was the main source of work and being the time of apartheid, it was not easy for a lot of black people to endure. Apart from facing the white power, they had to deal with their own social issues. But what captures my attention is how they fought back to their challenges and how they created this subculture to keep going.

Music, board games, fashion, sport and dance were important parts of daily life. We celebrate the Ladies Smith Black Mambazo today but this music was commonly known in the hostels where miners lived. They sang to free themselves from stress, from the action or pain that was inflicted on them during working hours. They would come together in the evening to sing and parody their bosses’ behaviour.

The culture of Swenkas that has spread across the world started with the hostel dwellers, who used to dress up and parade in their spare time. The Swenkas are South African workers who have found a unique way to channel their self-respect, their creativity, and their hope in the future. They inhabited a worker's hell that Apartheid created and modern South African society can't seem to dismantle. Hard lives, miserable living conditions and long separations from families would beat down even the strongest men. The Swenkas believe in cleanliness, pride, chaste behaviour, and support for one another to give themselves hope in their grim world. Healthy, humorous competition for the best-attired man gave them joy, while snappy clothing and male model performances are exercises in dignity and self-determination.
A radio played a significant role in these communities as a source of communication, a time when cell phones were not around or rather too expensive to afford. They always tuned in and listened to a program called ‘ngikhonzele’, which means please send a ‘shout out’. It was here they would come to know about the lives of their loved ones left behind at home. Their lives were dominated by the spirit of Ubuntu." Bambo Sibiya.

About artist

Bambo Sibiya

Sibiya draws on traditional printmaking techniques and works with acrylic and charcoal on canvas. His work centres around the spirit of ‘Ubuntu Ngabantu’, a term deriving from Zulu philosophy and translating roughly into ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.

Bambo is a South African artist from Kwa Thema, Springs near Johannesburg. He studied art at the Benoni Technical college and afterwards studied the printing professional development programme at the Artist Proof Studio in Johannesburg. In 2012 he won the Gerard Sekoto award and an artist residency at the Cité des Arts in Paris. It was during this residency that Atelier le Grand Village edited its first series of Bambo's lithographs on the theme of the Swenkas.

"My recent series focuses on early township life and each work looks into the subculture that started in the mining industry. I’m really fascinated about how the migrating community survive away from home. A lot of young men and women moved from rural areas to Johannesburg in the early days of South Africa searching for a better life. The mining industry was the main source of work and being the time of apartheid, it was not easy for a lot of black people to endure. Apart from facing the white power, they had to deal with their own social issues. But what captures my attention is how they fought back to their challenges and how they created this subculture to keep going. Music, board games, fashion, sport and dance were important parts of daily life. We celebrate the Ladies Smith Black Mambazo today but this music was commonly known in th...

About Gallery

Atelier le Grand Village

'Atelier le Grand Village' is a lithography studio located in the hamlet ‘le Grand Village’ in the Charente-Limousine, in the south-west of France. The founder, Francis van der Riet, was born in Zimbabwe and has lived in France since 1988. The aim of the studio is to revive the art of stone lithography by inviting artists in residence from around the world. Artists from several countries, including France, South Africa, the United States, Japan, Brazil and Bulgaria, have already come and worked in the studio.

Atelier le Grand Village has participated in several exhibitions around the world particularly in France, South Africa, Sweden, Portugal and the United States. All works produced at the studio are registered with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Works created at the studio are in collections with the Albertina in Vienna, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the IZIKO South African National gallery and the Victoria & Albert museum in London.

In October 2019, Atelier le Grand Village was invited to the leading art fair dedicated to African art -1.54 Contemporary African Art Fair - London, as a special project by presenting works from Diane Victor, Bambo Sibiya and Mongezi Ncaphayi.

Atelier le Grand Village
7 le Grand Village
16310, Massignac
France

Curated by Atelier le Grand Village