PORTFOLIO Lungile Ndlovu
Instagram handles: @ndlovuqlungi @lungilendlovu_art Contact number: 0713923141/0681643031 Email address: ndlovuqlungile@outlook.com
Artist Biography Lungile Ndlovu was born in the South of Johannesburg, and is currently doing her honours degree in BA Fine Arts at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is an emerging artist that specializes in a variety of mediums such as photography, drawing, printmaking, painting, and frame making. With a hint of social inequality, guided by a passion for colour and beauty. Her vibrant paintings depict markers of beauty that she sees in herself, as well as other women who have struggled to value themselves. She’s on a self-love quest, but she’s still interested in the feminine gaze; she’s the latest sculpture and beauty ideal. Her linocuts prints serve as a place of memory and identity and require a laborious procedure to create. She has a close affinity with both mediums since her great-grandparents were used to this type of labour-intensive activity that was passed down through generations. In 2020 she took part in a 3D online group exhibition (@sheimpresions) alongside other female artists.
Artist Statement In my research I am interested in the technical process of linocut and Benin Bronze sculptures. They have historical traditions embedded in them, such as carvings. The technical sophistication of their casting and scarification (etching) process is matched by the artworks enduring beauty, this process of branding or cutting into something as a permanent modification represents markers of beauty. I am recovering oppositional beauty ideas. I am the sculpture and new standard of beauty. Tackling the western perception of beauty, I am the beauty, and the beauty is me. Recently I have been looking at the making of woven grass mats, which can also be used for decoration, another beauty aesthetic. But all these processes have an indistinguishable characteristic, they all require a laborious process. As a result of this, I became fascinated with woodcut/linocut. My grandparents and great-grandparents were accustomed to working long hours to achieve a goal or earn money. Whether be domestic work or the weaving of grass mats. This labor-intensive process necessitates effort, its long-term impact has been passed down from generation to generation. As a result, both the grass-mat and the linocut serve as a representation of memory and identity. Cutting into something and removing it can mean something, and in the case of self-por- traiture, cutting into myself can mean removing those aspects of myself that I do not like. It may be displacing or ignoring what I do not like about myself and focusing on what I do like.
“Self portraiture offers me the unique ability to represent myelf to the world in my own terms”
‘I am the sculpture and new standard of beauty, I am the beauty, and the beauty is me’
LUNGILE NDLOVU CURRICULUM VITAE
Personal Info: 0713923141/068 164 3031 @ndlovuqlungi @lingilendlovu_art Ndlovuqlungile@outlook.com Education: 2021: Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (4th year student) Wits School of Arts Faculty of Humanities Work Experience: FYE Mentorship programme Prizes and Awards: 2018 Certificate of First Class FINA1005A Drawing and Contemporary Practice IA 2018 Certificate of First Class FINA1006A Drawing and Contemporary Practice IB 2020 Certificate of First Class FINA3009A Fine Arts IIIA 2020 Certificate of First Class FINA3011A Drawing and Contemporary Practice IIIA 2020 Certificate of First Class FINA3012A Drawing and Contemporary Practice IIIB Group Exhibition: @sheimpressions (Virtual exhibition celebrating women artists). Sheimpressions, “Let It Be Known”, online exhibition showcasing women artists, located in 96 Jorisen Street Johannesburg, 2001 Braamfontein. sheimpressions@gmail.com. https://www.instagram.com/p/CFryRcZjhrc/?igshid=11ns1bx99g4yx References: Reneilwe: sheimpressions@gmail.com 078 249 1547 Prof. Sharlene Khan: Sharlene.Khan@wits.com 083 337 6253