FOR THE RECORD
Sam Nhlengethwa’s latest show heralds albinism and fashion, with print and paint works that veer away from his usual collages, writes Tymon Smith
As a fellow record collector and jazz lover, it’s a treat to visit artist Sam Nhlengethwa at his home in Benoni on Gauteng’s East Rand. There, Nhlengethwa has made himself a space full of the things he treasures — his family, his jazz records, vintage record players, modernist furniture and his collection of classic cars. Since 2020, initially necessitated by the restrictions of the Covid-19 lockdowns but now on a full-time basis, Nhlengethwa has also made it his studio space. There, he says, he’s been able to spend more time working, less time travelling, and has enjoyed a productive period preparing works for shows
— at the Goodman Gallery in London in 2020 and 2021, and now for a new show titled Art Meets Fashion, which opened at the gallery’s Johannesburg space this week.
Nhlengethwa recalls: “There was so much inspiration and good energy during Covid for me. I produced a good show in London — I don’t wish for Covid to come back but it was a good experience for me.”
He describes his new body of work as, “Having nothing sad about them. They’re just happy paintings,” focusing on the intersection between his long-held love of and interest in fashion and his lifetime pursuit of art as a means of highlighting social issues. In this case, the works focus on several characters with albinism, posing in glamorous clothes and elevated, Nhlengethwa hopes, to a level that will allow viewers to recognise this often stigmatised group’s humanity and dignity in a plea for respectful treatment.
Fashion is also a natural extension of his long-held passion for jazz, a musical genre which is characterised for its sonic improvisation and freedom of expression as much as it is for the style of its artists. “The jazz musicians were trendy — Modern Jazz Quartet always dressed formally and were called the ‘Gentlemen of Jazz’; Ella Fitzgerald and Miriam Makeba dressed smartly when they performed; as did Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock,” says Nhlengethwa.
Fashion was also a key part of the creative expression of the members of the Bayajula Group who worked in the township of KwaThema in the 1970s and Nhlengethwa remembers painting on several designs made by the group when he was a young artist. His oldest brother, Mxolisi, also instilled in him a love for style. “He was the trendiest in our family and he used to dress up. Little did I know that one day I would be inspired to do something in the fashion world. I get ideas about how people dress and I’ve turned those into paintings,” says Nhlengethwa.
The works for the new show include prints and paintings with less use of the collage techniques that Nhlengethwa has become associated with over the course of his decades-long career. Working in the medium took him down memory lane as he recalled the years he spent learning with legendary artist and teacher Bill Ainslie at the Art Foundation in Johannesburg.
He feels that the inclusion of the albinism issue is a natural extension not only of previous work, which has looked at the lives of marginal characters such as miners and waste pickers, but also of him having “always been the kind of person from a young age who’s tried to help others in less fortunate circumstances. There are things that touch me in life and now they’re visual and people can see what my concerns are”.
In a career that’s won him many local and international accolades, including the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1995, and multiple overseas shows, Nhlengethwa feels privileged to have achieved all that he wanted to do. “Of course I want to do more but I exhibit once every two years and that gives me enough time to think and plan. I think I’ve covered almost everything,” he says
Looking around his home, with chickens squawking outside breaking the silence, Nhlengethwa says he feels rewarded as an artist. “I look back and I say to myself, ‘This house, this family house that we’re in, I bought it from the profits of my practice ... and the cars and the records’,” he adds, laughing quietly.
Nhlengethwa hopes that audiences will respond enthusiastically to his new interest in fashion and his attempt to seek acceptance of people with albinism. Overall he remains an optimist, even if constant loadshedding does sometimes make it difficult for him to enjoy his jazz collection — a vital element of his working practice.
“I’m an optimist by nature even if I do feel that our leaders are taking us for granted and only need us when it’s time to vote. We’re watchdogs of our government though and I’m optimistic about the country. We’ve been limping for a long time but I hope somebody will get it right and we’ll be happy and the load-shedding thing will be a thing of the past ... We’ll get there.”
And with that, it’s time for Nhlengethwa to put another seminal jazz record on the turntable and get back to adding the final touches to his work.
‘Sam Nhlengethwa: Art Meets Fashion’ is on view at the Goodman Gallery in Joburg until January 20, 2024. goodman-gallery.com