Head on a platter

Ayanda Mabulu was born in King William’s Town in 1981 and is a self-taught artist.

● In 2010 his paintings of pigs’ heads, the old South African flag and Eugene Terre’Blanche’s head on a platter were banned from an exhibition in the corporate foyer of Truworths in Cape Town. The curators did, however, offer Mabulu a later solo exhibition. He said at the time: “I’m upset because as artists we should be free to express ourselves. By painting the old flag and pigs, I tried to show the filthiness of that era. I respect the death of Mr Terre’Blanche and I’m not saying he is a pig. I’m trying to portray what he did.” ● In 2011 he completed a three-month artists’ residency at the Chenshia Museum in Wuhan, China, which culminated in a less controversial solo exhibition, Beautiful Imperfections, described as “a colourful and honest depiction of life in the townships of South Africa”.

● In 2013, his painting Yakhal’inkomo (Black Man’s Cry) featuring Jacob Zuma crushing a Marikana miner’s head, was pulled from the Joburg Art Fair for being too offensive, but reportedly replaced after photographer David Goldblatt withdrew his own work from the fair in solidarity. Later that year the painting sold for R89 000.