Flamboyant Souls

Bambo Sibiya (b.1986, South Africa) attempts to preserve and depict cultural heritages found across the region of Africa. In this globally inaugural series, entitled Flamboyant Souls, Sibiya depicts the innate beauty of fashionable local figures from his entourage, whilst drawing inspiration from traditional printmaking techniques, local wallpapers and African textiles. Portrayed on intricate and lush backgrounds in acrylic and charcoal, his paintings, some monumental in size, explore individual or small groups of protagonists’ identities and different sub-cultures. Through his unique visual language, Bambo discusses cross-continental traditions in connection with their intrinsic diversities.

Biography

Bambo Sibiya (b.1986, Gauteng) completed a Design certificate at Benoni Technical College in 2005. As a student, he developed his personal content through cultural and art-historical research, as well as by participating in social advocacy programmes. Sibiya found himself drawn to Hogarth’s social allegories, Goya’s Disasters of War as well as Diane Victor’s Disasters of Peace, and drew inspiration from such figures. Social realism is reflected throughout his body of work, as he began to depict family life, the working class, as well as local figures and surrounds.

Sibiya lived with a culture of alcoholism growing up, amidst the breakdown of his own family structure, subsequently leading to loosely-based themes in his practice that refer to the experience of his mother. Many of Sibiya’s more accomplished series, concerning single mothers, convey a message that despite hardship and unemployment, women still succeed in feeding their families, nurturing their children, and providing security.

In his more recent works, Sibiya has shifted his focus to the lifestyles that have developed around migrant communities. His workplace internship as the assistant gallery curator, for the Artist Proof Studio Gallery, provided the opportunity to work on the large-scale linocuts of several leading artists such as William Kentridge, Diane Victor, Norman Catherine and Colbert Mashile. The scale and power of those monumental prints profoundly moved Sibiya and he extended his own work, tackling more ambitious images, with added confidence.