Young artist maps daily commute by train on gusheshe to showcase talent
Mwanza draws from his interactions and Metrorail tickets to design BMW
Artist Themba Mwanza has followed in the footsteps of Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu after being afforded the opportunity to design his own BMW.
Inspired by the popular gusheshe and the workingclass people who travel on the Metrorail trains, he has titled his design the Mangobe Gado Gusheshe.
“I was inspired by my journey to and from the university using the train. I had a lot of conversations over the years with people on the train and witnessed train surfers, train churches and other interesting people in the working class. I looked at the train as a point of transit of ordinary people who are all trying to improve their lives and I wanted to translate that onto the car,” Mwanza said.
The 22-year-old Wits University fine arts graduate along with four other students were chosen to design their own BMWs after submitting their ideas for the BMW Group Building Projects in 2019.
Mwanza chose the BMW e33-25 model to express his talents and it took four-and-a-half months to complete after starting the heavy lifting work in November last year.
“I used to collect tickets from the train for years and I did not throw them out. I always had this feeling that at some point I might be able to use them for some collaborative idea because I have been experimenting with these ideas of wanting to bring this train narrative into art.
“I used those tickets and made a collage and used risograph printing which is a form of print media... I created a collage of these different tickets and I also used linocut print [engraving] of the train interior to design each side of the car...,” he said. Mwanza worked with graphic designers and vinyl printers who helped to put the prints on a large scale.
“We then wrapped the vehicle with vinyl of the designs and prints that I made. For the interior, I wanted to do something with the car seats, so I used denim because as a fabric it is very important in the working class. It’s worn by different workers of different sectors of the working class like miners.”
He upholstered the material onto the seats and stitched silk screen prints of the train interior.
The young artist said he has received overwhelming support from his friends and other artists who connected with the piece. “People related to the car in a cultural aspect. They were in love with how it looked and how it spoke to the train and the gusheshe,” he said.
Professor David Andrew from the Wits School of Arts said the students’ work can be viewed at the BMW Group Midrand campus.
“This has been an extended learning opportunity for the students, developed within the longstanding practices established at the Wits School of Arts, while taking into account the context in which they have been required to work.
“All pieces are on permanent display and I am looking forward to seeing how the collection is further extended.”