SNS CATALOGUE 2023 DIGITAL-compressed - Book - Page 16
RUNNER UP
THEMBA
MKHANGELI
CAPE TOWN
14
Biography
Themba Mkhangeli is a multi-award-winning
visual artist and environmentalist with a
penchant for entomology. He grew up in
Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, in a small village
called Julukuqu. Currently, he is based in Nyanga
East, Cape Town. His preferred medium is a
ballpoint pen and most of his images capture
the human form, particularly portraits. He
started making art at the age of five but realised
his talent for artmaking in Grade 6 and he has
not looked back since.
SASOL NEW SIGNATURES • 2023 CATALOGUE
Amawele, is a portrait of twin sisters who reside in the
artist’s neighbourhood. This image is a homage
to their beauty and innocence, embodied through
the unerasable process of ink pen drawing. Although
Gender Based Violence inserts unerasable marks
on women that hurt and scar them, the unerasable
mark-making used in this drawing does the opposite,
because it celebrates and honours the beauty of
women. The diamond shape between them is the
symbol of beauty the artist always finds in women,
it also creates a balance between the two figures.
RUNNER-UP
Runner-up
