Mbali Dhlamini
Since 2014, Mbali Dhlamini, a fine art master’s graduate from Wits, has been looking at the role of colour in the Africanisation of missionary Christianity, with a particular focus on the African independent churches.
Over the years Dhlamini has produced work that looks at the liminality of these churches, juxtaposed with the omnipresence of church uniforms from various groupings.
In Non promised Land: Bana ba thari entsho, which she exhibited in 2015 as part of her master’s programme, she presented pastel drawings depicting the garments framing headless and limbless bodies, in an exploration of how the garments were used in the creation of personas.
“The women and men wearing these garments would do so differently,” says Dhlamini, “like they were supreme beings. It gave them isizotha (a quiet dignity). I didn’t grow up in a church where people wore the dresses so I was always curious about the designs, the colours and some of the symbols that they attach to the garments. My first interest was in the colours.”
She has also presented installations of clear plastic approximations of the attire, with related drawings, pointing to their importance, even as their owners escape the physical plane.
“I’m moving on,” she says. “I want to look at colour among different language groups within the Ki’ntu classification. With different languages there would be different names to call colours and different meanings.
“There are so many vocab notes that are related to it and they carry different meanings, like how they [colours] are used in Zulu love letters, and how they are still used in independent African churches.”
To this end, Dhlamini is working on a series of silkscreen prints at Artist Proof Studios in Johannesburg with the printer Charles Kolobeng.
Currently unburdened by ties to a specific gallery, in 2017 Dhlamini nonetheless has clear aspirations for more visibility.
“I want to show in all of the fairs that are happening this year, be it in Jo’burg or Cape Town,” she says. “And I am looking at getting a studio and doing more projects from my studio.”