FIFTY SHADES OF RED
Yolanda Mazwana uses mediums that are translucent and transparent to show the layers of conversations she is trying to convey in each of her paintings, writes Bonginkosi Ntiwane
Immediately after childbirth, midwives monitor the mother’s vaginal bleeding. The blood usually comes in three shades of red. You’d think visual artist Yolanda Mazwana was attempting to capture this in her new solo exhibition given the prevalence of the colour in different tones in her paintings.
“Not really,” she says. “In my process I paint with no intention. It’s just me as a person painting. I reflect what’s within me in my work. A lot of the paintings are about the physical being, the pains and struggles we go through. Red, to me, is like a translucent colour of the inner body. That’s why I used red so much.”
Read the Room is showing at the Kalashnikovv Gallery in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. The collection is conceptualised from the perspective of a black, female body. Returning to and elaborating on the expressive brush strokes of her previous work, Mazwana looks into the relationship between the private and public as she observes the physical being — what people consider obvious and what is not so obvious.
In Read the Room, Mazwana uses symbolism and abstraction to explore mental illness, relationships, popular culture and the invasion of the female body. The different ages, the experiences of sex and childbearing years are also touched on. The paintings aim to start conversations on intimacy and vulnerability and the stories of coercion in relationships.
“Some of us are over 25 and are thinking about having children, relationships and sex, love — all those things. I use a lot of mediums that are translucent and transparent so that you can see the different layers of different conversations of what I’m trying to convey in each painting,” says the 26-year-old.
The 14 paintings took her about four months to complete. She confesses that what was most beautiful about her process was its solitude. “It allowed me to create without disruptions. Creating this time around has been precious and sweet. It’s been quiet, it’s been slow, what I always wanted for my creative process.”
Mazwana’s style has elements of abstract expressionism, neo-expressionism and symbolism. “It’s interesting because when I created Secret Homegirls, an exhibition that had strong gold backgrounds, I had just heard of Gustav Klimt and I later saw the referencing of his works in mine. This helped me better understand my work and identify the genre in which I work.”
The Eastern Cape-born artist has no formal training but grew up with an incessant obsession to draw from an early age. “It was something I started and couldn’t stop. I would draw and paint and it became a huge part of my daily life ... during school, on holidays, at Christmas — all my time was consumed by drawing portraits and wanting to build on my skill. I would sit in my room and draw for hours,” she says.
“I thought I was going to be a singer but I just knew I was looking for something else, something that balances me and gives me solace and purpose. I decided on art at the age of 15.”
She is inspired by a variety of things, but mental health and the structure of the female body are mainstays of her art. “My work is inspired by the female anatomy, female physical and mental health, the growing ages of a woman and everything in between,” she says. “I’ve always been an observer of the lives of others. People often talk to me about their mental health and that’s played a big role in what I create and in the emotive content of my work.”
The visual ambiguity of some of her paintings gives them an ominous look and feel. “That’s been my theme since I started painting. I’ve often made dark paintings. It doesn’t mean I’m in pain. I don’t paint happy-go-lucky colours like yellow, orange ... rainbows and sunshine,” Mazwana says.
In 2019 she received The Bag Factory Young Womxn Studio bursary. The next year she came second in the Emerging Painting Invitational Prize hosted by the African Art Gallery Association. Her solo exhibitions include last year’s After Midnight, Symptoms of Nothing and Secrets of Homegirls at the Daville Baillie Gallery in 2019.
Symptoms of Nothing stands out for her as one of her best bodies of work. “I was going through something only I could understand. That work was special to me because two years later there was so much in it for me to unpack.”
With SA undergoing upheaval, young, talented artists such as Mazwana are tempted to relocate to Europe where there is appetite for art and buying power for their work. “I grapple with that all the time because I’m curious about who I am and who else I could become in the world. I’m interested in my journey, wherever that may be and whatever I become as an artist and as a woman from it,” she says.
Social media has become a valuable tool for artists to build a solid audience. “I don’t think anyone would’ve known me or noticed my work or would have been able to reach out to me without it. When I started I posted my work as a self-taught artist. Social media was my door to the art world,” says Mazwana, who has a sizeable number of Instagram followers.
Read the Room will run until October 8 at Kalashnikovv Gallery