A way back to innocence

Chen Dabing, founder of the Chenshia group of companies, is a Chinese entrepreneur and art patron with a love of all things African. One of the works he owns is Ayanda Mabulu’s Death Was the Only Way Back to Innocence. In an interview with the Sayers Consultancy, Dabing called the painting one of his favourites, saying: “This powerful work is inspired by the death of his mother and is a homage to her. She and the artist are the central figures in the painting, with the body of his dead twin brother lying at their feet ... It is a very moving depiction of the suffering they have experienced.”