Introducing PNA Women’s Month Features

In honour of Women’s Month, this final week of August, we are showcasing female trailblazers, past and present, in the SA arts community. These women express the essence of women empowerment through their art and are an incredible inspiration to us all.

Who are some of your favourite female SA artists? Who knows, they might be one of the amazing women we feature!

Dr Esther Mahlangu Inspires

In order to appreciate the present, we must reflect on the past. Today’s first Women in SA artist features the iconic Dr Esther Mahlangu. Esther never attended school, and although she couldn’t read and write, she was able to express herself through art. Esther said, “to paint is in my heart and in my blood.”

You’ll recognise her bright, geometric and symmetrical abstract paintings, which are inspired by her cultural heritage. She was a disruptor from an early age, becoming the first person to reimagine Ndebele design that is traditionally used for decorating houses on contemporary mediums.

Musicians including Usher, Alicia Keys and John Legend, as well as Oprah Winfrey, are among collectors. Dr Mahlangu has spent more than 7 decades practising her artform and has travelled extensively to collaborate with the world’s most respected museums, galleries, curators, art fairs, celebrities and global brands. She is 85 years old.

Karabo Poppy Inspires

Contemporary SA artist @karabo_poppy is an illustrator and street artist who has already been recognized by Forbes30Under30. Karabo was born in a town in Vereeniging and went to a high school that didn’t even offer art, but that didn’t stop her. She was raised thinking art was a hobby and not a career path, but she proved them all wrong, and today she creates visual art that is vibrant, energetic and dynamic, to say the least!

This dynamite has put SA on the map with her work with many world-renowned brands such as Google, Nike, Netflix, Coca Cola, Spotify, amongst many others. Her artwork can also be seen plastered on buildings worldwide, with her latest feature appearing on a building in Switzerland.

She keeps pushing the envelope and shows us that the sky’s the limit.

Irma Stern Inspires

South African artist Irma Stern (2 October 1894 – 23 August 1966) is still considered being South Africa’s foremost artist in terms of public recognition and the record prices that her works fetch at an auction. At first, misunderstood for her highly individual and Modernist style by the conservative and shockable public of Cape Town, she gradually won acceptance and eventually acclaim.

Although she is well known for her oil paintings, she has also worked as a sculptor whose portrayal of African people. Her legacy lives on at the Irma Stern Museum in Cape Town. Irma is definitely proof that your passion makes room for you.

Faith XLVII Inspires

Liberty Du, who is widely recognized as Faith XLVII, is a South African Multi-Disciplinary Artist. Her journey into art began on the streets of South Africa in 1997 as a young graffiti writer taking on the name Faith47 (the number being a reference to her grandmother’s numerological theorem). In 2006, Liberty began on a nomadic journey which has brought her to create works in 39 countries.

At the beginning of her career, she primarily worked in studio on canvases for exhibitions, but she gradually turned to street art, working on urban materials like road signs, doors and walls.

She painted in abandoned places and townships using a wide range of artistic tools, including spray paint, ink, graphite, oil paint and collage. She exhibited her artwork in Sweden, UK, France, Tunisia, the USA, Australia, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, etc., and her street creations can now be found in major cities around the world.

Seen this mural in Cape Town? HARVEST is one of her most recognisable works of art.