Artist’s legacy celebrated
THE life and work of renowned Durban artist Isaac Sithole will be celebrated with two exhibitions running simultaneously at the KZNSA Art Gallery and the BAT Centre this week.
Sithole, who specialised in sculptural wood carving, died at the age of 44 in 2012 after leaving his mark in the art fraternity using lino printmaking techniques on wood.
His younger brother, Fanuel Moiane, said that to this day, whenever he looked at any of Sithole’s work, he expected to see him too.
“He was an artist 24/7, it didn’t just end when he left the studio at the BAT Centre. He would also often wake up in the middle of the night and work in his studio at home,” Moiane told The Independent on Saturday this week.
The exhibitions are from February 7- 25 at the BAT Centre and from February 8-28 at the KZNSA Art Gallery.
They will showcase pieces selected by his family which will include his original woodcut blocks.
Moiane described preparing for the exhibitions as a bittersweet moment, saying their parents, now both in their 70s, have had the most difficult time.
“It’s been six years since his passing, but my parents cry every day when they see his work.”
Sithole, born in Maputo, Mozambique, learnt how to carve wood at the age of 12 and moved to South Africa when he was 16 and began networking with other young artists.
Moiane said his brother hadn’t thought when he started out, how well known he would become.
“I think about him all the time. I have memories of him almost every day that are triggered by little things,” he said.
Sithole’s work is also at the central food court at the Liberty Midlands Mall in Pietermaritzburg.